“Journey Around My Bedroom” reviewed by Julia W. Rath

Somewhat Recommended * 1/2 During the corona virus pandemic, we can’t help but think of other people who have felt sadness, isolation, and loneliness when they were restricted to quarters. One such person was Xavier de Maistre, who was a real person around the time of the French Revolution and who wrote the book “Journey Around My Room.” Published in 1794, it was meant as a critique of the “travel bug” in his day. It parodies 18th century travel journals and asks the questions, “Why do we travel?” and “What makes travel so exciting?” De Maistre was inspired to write his fantasy memoir when he was confined to his house in Turin, Italy, for 42 days as a result of a duel. To counteract boredom and malaise, he imagined himself traveling throughout his room and visiting the objects within it.

Inspired by this voyage of the mind, the current production “Journey Around My Bedroom” rethinks de Maistre’s fantasy as a children’s tale, complete with puppets. The story centers on the Frenchman being stranded in a child’s bedroom today when his one-of-a-kind flying contraption—that transcends time and space—no longer works, and he can’t get back home to Europe in the year 1790. Xavi, a young girl who lives in Manhattan during the pandemic, encounters the inventor at bedtime while wearing her pajamas. Her nearly empty room is subsequently transformed into something out of the ordinary, much like the settings in Clara’s dream during the Nutcracker Ballet. Together Xavi and De Maistre journey to all sorts of magical places while they try to figure out how he can safely return to his own time period.

The best part of the show is the music: The songs and score are beautifully composed by Hyeyoung Kim. She and playwright Dianne Nora have together crafted the lyrics. The main theme song with the line “Close your eyes and dream” is very appealing, hummable, and first-rate. The repeating melody during the preshow is reminiscent of those played on carousel rides dating from the 19th century. This frolicky music together with the opening graphics and credits set the mood for the performance. This portion of the program is well done.

All the puppets have been lovingly designed by Myra G. Reavis, assisted by Ana M. Aburto. But in this day and age of computerized sophistication and 3-D modeling, the paper doll characters don’t work well as action figures and are quite lacking in their two-dimensionality. In addition, the scenic design and props are largely amateurish. Had this show taken place in 1900, the artistry would have gotten better marks. But the story is a current one, and the show is not meant to be a vintage performance. Adults may reminisce about Victorian-inspired puppets, minimalist settings, and good old-fashioned graphic art design. These days, however, the artistry has to be done extremely well in order to compete with slick, attention-grabbing videos that fill the airwaves. Clearly a live production (which this one is) cannot adequately compete with a recorded one on film or video where compositors can edit out some of the mechanics behind the puppetry (like the wooden sticks and the real-life hands) and smooth out the rough edges.

While it can be fascinating to watch the mechanics of puppetry—and I really do credit the hard work of the puppeteers—this presentation sadly lacks in both finesse and dynamism and thus fails to hold the audience’s attention. Other faults include the sword-fight that makes no sense and the largely uninteresting dialogue. Moreover, the notion of time and space travel that binds the show together is not convincing enough: It is just one step too bizarre and unrealistic. The three optional moments of audience participation are unnecessary, except that Starr Kirkland (who plays Xavier and others) has such an irresistible smile and engaging personality that it is worth watching her encourage the children to become more involved in the story. Other performers include Laura Kay (the Mom/Narrator) and Ashley Kristeen Vega (Xavi).

Now for the worst problem of the production: the inexperience in using Zoom as an online medium. The good news is that the sound quality is fine throughout and the sound effects are decent, thanks to sound designer Tae Jogn Park. The bad news is that the producers do not understand how Zoom works. In Zoom, the video defers to the sound (which is assumed to be that of the speaker). When the sound effects are initiated separately from any character, the audience sees a blank screen on their computer. This happens here all too frequently. The remote viewer’s first thought is that something has gone wrong. In my case, I kept switching out of speaker view to gallery view in Zoom in order to avoid the darkness and to observe all the action and sound effects at the same time. Either the default setting in Zoom or the host of the Zoom session kept putting me back into speaker view; this didn’t work well if I wanted to follow the full story. Also before the actual show started, I gave my consent to participate as a panelist so that I could interact with the others at just the right moment; but once I was registered, suddenly the active screen minimized into a thumbnail, and it took me several tries to get back to the full screen. Luckily I figured this out before the show started.

Travel for pleasure serves as a means of personal growth and accomplishment in our culture. Not only is it a way to gain worldliness and a perspective on life, but it is also can serve as a break from our typical and possibly mundane day-to-day activities. It gives us something to talk about and think about. Doing a production based on the “travel itch” is very timely since we’re largely stuck at home, communicating remotely, and deprived of the possibility of visiting strange lands first-hand to learn about ways of life that may differ from our own. In the end, this show helps us to realize that travel ultimately has to do with our mindset, such that we are equally capable of venturing to new and different places in our imagination just as we can physically.

Escapism via dreams and the mind’s eye is thus an important means of “travel without traveling” and coping with our home confinement. So I was happy to see all the performers on screen broadcasting from their own homes with their puppets, artwork, and music, and being in their own little Zoom boxes—and just being creative. It’s fun to come up with artistic avenues to thrust our energies into during these difficult times, rather than twiddling our thumbs, watching Netflix, and gaining ten pounds by eating bonbons. But learning how to use the Zoom software properly, if not skillfully, is essential before putting on any show before a remote audience.

It was a long 35 minutes, and I thought just a bit too much about journeying around my room as this show was playing. Unlike Xavi’s sparse bedroom, my office is full of all sorts of neat stuff like books and pictures and postcards that I can visit right now without having to retreat into the netherworld. Above all, I treasure the souvenirs of my travels and other people’s voyages, that is, from an era before COVID-19 put a stop to most of it. The corona virus has captured the headlines, but this show will not.

New Ohio Theatre for the Young Minds’ presentation of “Journey Around My Bedroom,” written by Dianne Nora and directed by Jaclyn Biskup, is available for live streaming from now through Sunday, January 10, 2021.

Tickets are Pay What You Will

Suggested ticket price: $25 for up to two viewers.

Performances on Zoom are scheduled for the following times:

Friday, January 1, 2021, at 7 pm EST | 6 pm CST
Saturday, January 2, at 2 pm EST | 1 pm CST
Sunday, January 3, at 11 am EST | 10 am CST
Sunday, January 3, at 2 pm EST | 1 pm CST
Friday, January 8, at 7 pm EST | 6 pm CST
Saturday, January 9, at 2 pm EST | 1 pm CST
Sunday, January 10, at 11 am EST | 10 am CST
Sunday, January 10, at 2 pm EST | 1 pm CST

The show will then be available on demand from January 11, 2021 through February 11, 2021.

To order tickets, go to: New Ohio Theatre | Theatre for Young Minds Fall 2020.

http://www.newohiotheatre.org/tfy2020.htm

For more information on this show and for information on other productions, please visit www.newohiotheatre.org.

Note that a 15-minute post-show follows the 35-minute performance, where online viewers can ask questions of the puppeteers and learn more about their adventures.