Ill Seen Ill Said

WIP

“Such helplessness to move she cannot help.” Ill Seen Ill Said is solo performance of speaking and moving based on Samuel Beckett’s novella of the same name. An exploration of movement that is unmoving, the wiggle that emerges even amidst the most baffling constraints, the piece is an extension of Charly’s ongoing work with language and movement that seeks to call into question our heroic efforts to constantly do and perform, flirting with the potential impossibility of stillness and nonexistence.

Sound: Teddy Hyde
Cast: Charly Santagado

“From the very first second of the piece, the stage revealed a surreal and captivating image: dancer and creator Charly Santagado lay at the center on a folding bed, a kind of old fashioned lawnchair, surrounded by a circle of light. Throughout the performance, she used this object in fascinating ways: at one moment it was a railing, then wings, then a small protective fence behind which she hid.

There was perfect synchronicity between her and the object. At some point, she abandoned it and danced on her own. A text by Samuel Beckett, recorded in her own voice, accompanied her, adding to the surreal theatricality and to the alignment between movement, object, and text. I didn’t recognize the text’s origin, and no further information was provided in the program. It left the impression that it was entirely hers. The performance ended with the phrase: Breathe that void. We breathed, she, the audience, and I, into the emptiness.

Would the piece have impressed me as much in a smaller venue, like a fringe space or studio? I think so. She has a rare kind of virtuosity. But the magic of the big stage elevated the work immensely.”

Ella Greenbaum, Creative Writing