Reviewed by Margaret Thompson
Les 7 Doigts de la Main Performance at the Modlin Center for the Arts
What are your plans for tonight, Saturday, March 23? Change them. It’s time for a date night. Or a very cool and different family night out. It’s time for PSY, and no not the Gangnam Style one, much to my kids’ chagrin. PSY, as in Psyche; as in psychiatrist; as in, one wild look at the way some slightly disturbed minds work. And don’t go thinking this kind of circus involves elephants and clowns. Oh wait, there is a clown. And so much more.
PSY opens with a patient and a psychiatrist in the doctor’s office, just as the voices in the patient’s head instruct him to climb on a trapeze and hang by his toes. From there, we are taken on a journey within the minds of characters with neuroses including OCD, agoraphobia, hypochondria, and paranoia. The eleven artists who take on these roles are true masters of their crafts, combining graceful choreography with, as the subtitle suggests, mind-blowing acrobatics. At times, there is so much going on onstage, that even amidst the simple set, it’s hard to know where to direct your attention. My four- and six year-old boys certainly didn’t understand the premise of the show, but the acrobatics were more than enough to keep them on the edge of their seats the entire time.
The rather frumpy costumes masked what must surely be some serious muscles on these performers. When I saw each of the cast members, they didn’t strike me as the athletic type, having the capabilities that the delighted Modlin Center crowd witnessed throughout the production. Another amazing trapeze performance followed the opening one, along with breathtaking routines on the Chinese pole, German wheel, aerial rope, and teeterboard. The knife-throwing skit, while executed with the utmost skill, truly made me wish that our third row seats were a few rows further back! And then there was the juggling, which is clearly a prerequisite for joining the troupe. You have to see it to believe it, which takes me back to your plans for this evening…
If you’re going the date night route, I suggest starting with dinner at Toast in the Village Shopping Center. Have the kids in tow and want something quick? Same shopping center hit Moe’s and make sure you have a Kids Dine Free card with you. The kids can actually get burritos or tacos on the kids’ menu, unlike the mac and cheese and corn dog nuggets that can be found on many other Mexican restaurant menus around town. Pocket the cookie to munch on during the show intermission, and you’re good to go.
Whether you go the date night route, or bring the kids along, you can marvel at the wonders of PSY at the Modlin Center for the Arts at the University of Richmond, Saturday, March 23 at seven-thirty, or Sunday, March 24 at two o’clock. Purchase tickets online at http://modlin.richmond.edu .
