“The World Inside This One” reviewed by Julia W. Rath

Recommended *** Mindfulness and the mundane intersect in hazy combination in an intricate exploration of life, death, domestic space, dust mites, and “unsung dander” in Susy Bielak and Fred Schmalz’s “The World Inside This One.” This highly impressionistic and eclectic multimedia presentation took place on Friday, April 23th online from the Eighth Blackbird production facility on North Rockwell Avenue, in Chicago. Largely. inspired by the COVID-19 stay-at-home order, the domestic partners found ample time to reflect on details of living that had previously escaped notice and to focus microscopically on the meaning of existence. Their jointly written poems, bolstered by the addition of various prerecorded videos, are both a tribute to the architecture of their personal living space and a “walking meditation” from the vantage point of their Edgewater apartment building. From the layout of their flat to the symmetry of their building’s staircase to the brambles outside and the lilac bush growing next door, their observations and perceptions make up the bulk of their well-chosen verse. The result is a 25-minute performance, replete with eclectic musical accompaniment, composed from scratch by Lisa Kaplan (piano and pianica) and Matthew Duvall (xylophone, cowbells, and percussion), of the Chicago Artists Workshop (CAW).

This one-of-a-kind event features poetry that laments of “the day the world ends… and our parcels never arrive.” The audience quickly learns that it is not the end of the earth or of human existence as a whole, but that of our separate individual lives. The world ends for each of us, one at a time, and we are especially unprepared for the deaths of our loved ones. That said, “The World Inside This One” is not without its humor and funny moments. The counterposition of words is often funky, especially in relation to the videos, which largely play on the idea of space and especially floor space. When Fred lay flat underneath their teak buffet table, I was reminded how as a young child I loved to crawl underneath the drum table in our living room and think of it both as a hiding place and an elaborate structure with tall ceilings. At another point, Susy (wearing a flowing poppy-printed dress) can be found inside her fireplace counting her toes, and that got me thinking, “Dang! I once lived in an apartment with a remarkably similar nook, and I never thought of doing that!” I too lived on the third floor and remember the day when two crows fell into my fireplace from the chimney—and how they were as startled as I was. But I digress….

The program started out with everybody stating that they have been fully vaccinated and therefore feel comfortable sitting together and performing without their masks on. The implication was that this is the reason why the CAW stage lacked the plexiglass barriers, common to previous shows during the pandemic. During the aftertalk, the co-creators described how working out mood and rhythm in real time resulted in a form that it is both lyrical and inviting. The result is a dynamic, thoughtfully inspired collaboration of the four performers, whose handiwork is simultaneously contemplative and amusing.

Nicknamed the “first iteration” of an ever-evolving project, “The World Inside This One” turned the couple’s confinement resulting from the corona virus threat into a creative outlet and a form of escape. Their unique take on the juxtaposition of nature and civilization makes things that once would have been ordinary and a blur become essential and consequential. This experimental live-streamed rendition, backed by original music and video, thus made for a very worthwhile event, which hopefully will be repeated widely in the future.

“The World Inside This One” was a one-time production on April 23, 2021, on videostream by the Chicago Artists Workshop (CAW) and Eighth Blackbird. A virtual audience provided questions via the chat, and these were answered during the Q&A session that followed.

For more information about this and future offerings, please visit https://www.eighthblackbird.org/.

Tickets for this one-time livestreamed event were $20 per household (suggested), but options include choosing a price or becoming a donor to the organization. Please go to the donate section on the Eighth Blackbird website to help support their mission of promoting performing artists in Chicago and the Midwest.

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