Adrift: A Medieval Wayward Folly

[Paul Ferguson]

"Adrift: A Medieval Wayward Folly is performed in a starkly empty black box theater at 59E59. A spare set piece, a ship’s mast, inspired by Hieronymus Bosch’s Ship of Fools, is perched in one corner. The set piece, like the performance itself, is handmade and vigorously detailed. It looks like a close up or a cut out from the 15th century painting. As one can surmise from the play’s title, the performance takes much of its inspiration from the art and music of the Middle Ages. The enthusiastically crafted scenarios, all performer created, with costumes, puppets, and set designed by the Happenstance ensemble, are partly homages to specific artworks from the late medieval and early Renaissance period. Specifically, they were inspired by works by Bosch and Pieter Bruegel the Elder, as well as illuminated alchemical and medical texts from the same period. With music, dance, puppets, miming, and physical comedy, and using minimal language, the performers recreate symbols and scenarios from these late medieval masterworks."

https://observer.com/2023/12/adrift-a-me...awberries/