My wife, being a fan of David Byrne of Talking Heads from way back, had her attention caught by an article and ads for his (and Mala Gaonkar’s) odd-looking show, Theater of the Mind (directed by Andrew Scoville). It had its world premiere in Denver last September and, we found, was carried over into this month before moving on to new locations.
Three things to know about the show:
- While it’s a DCPA production, it’s not held downtown. Instead, it’s at the York Street Yards, a light industrial area off Steele, north of City Park.
- That’s because this is an interactive show, with small groups of sixteen moving from room to room over 75 minutes, delving into the (light) story and (fun) perceptive experiments / neurological parlor tricks.
- We’re glad we went.
Without going into spoilers, the show is about questions of identity, reality, and personality. That sounds very deep, and while there are deep questions raised, the audience is encouraged to do most of the raising themselves “over a coffee or a beer.” (The show provides a digital program after the fact, talking about the science involved.)
The experiments and demonstrations of how our perceptions, memory, and worldview are both unreliable and change over time are relatively simplistic, especially in the social media world of today. But in aggregate, and in context of the narrative (which seeks to engage the audience by giving them all new names and a bit of slowly developed backstory), it leaves a sense both of unease (who am I now, and how might that be different tomorrow?) and encouragement (we have at least some control, if only of acceptance, as to all of that).
Again, while the tone glides from breezy to absurd to briefly serious, it’s meant mostly to be thought-provoking, not gut-wrenching, and it succeeds in that. That’s helped by a large and (presumably equally competent) case, each playing the single role for a given group: a semi-autobiographical David Byrne (even if none of them, quite intentionally, look like him). Our “David” (Steph Holmbo, I believe) was quite good, and I expect all of them are.
An enjoyable show and experience, worth going to see.
Do you want to know more?
- Theater of the Mind (show site)
- Finally! ‘Theater of the Mind’ opens in Denver – OnStage Colorado
- Take a Trip Through David Byrne’s Mind | Smart News| Smithsonian Magazine
- David Byrne’s “Theater of the Mind” will world premiere in Denver on Sept. 13 after a two-year delay. Here’s what Byrne has to say about it.