It’s all in the delivery
How do you dramatize the urban experience -- the thrumming subway, the cacophonous congestion, the suppressed violence triggered by the wrong clothing, wrong stance, wrong glance?
Leave it to Universes, poets of color with a distinctly New York sensibility whose stated objective is no less than “re-creating the King’s English” through a mix of movement, music and inner-city slang. In “Slanguage,” now being presented by Taper, Too at the Ivy Substation, the performers not only re-create the language, they slap it around, stand it on its head, shake it up and wake it up. Call this “Stomp” for the larynx.
Seen in a fledgling version at the Mark Taper Forum’s New Work Festival four years ago, the play opened to stellar reviews at the New York Theatre Workshop in 2001. Founding members Mildred Ruiz, Steven Sapp and Gamal Abdel Chasten are featured in the Taper, Too production, as well as newer Universe members Dominic Colon and Ninja. (Core members Flaco Navaja and Lemon are currently pursuing solo careers.)
Director and co-developer Jo Bonney has been with the group from an early juncture. Her dizzying, propulsive staging for the Taper, Too production is nothing short of virtuosic. Yael Pardess’ stark scenic design consists primarily of an upstage screen against which vivid, often blurred images of city life are projected. Darron L. West’s sound design and Christopher Akerlind’s lighting are integral yet unobtrusive.
It’s the performers -- fierce, funny and bitingly intelligent -- who keep your toes tapping and your heart in your mouth. All are prodigiously versatile, handling the demands of the piece -- from dance to song to sound effects to tongue-twisting patter monologues -- with consummate professionalism and aplomb.
Those who have previously dismissed rap and hip-hop as bastardized and anti-intellectual will find “Slanguage” a captivating glimpse of a much-maligned movement. These eloquent practitioners confirm that modern poetry, so sadly marginalized in recent decades, can still resonate in our contemporary culture.
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‘Slanguage’
Where: Ivy Substation, 9070 Venice Blvd., Culver City
When: Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, 8 p.m.; Fridays-Saturdays, 7 and 10 p.m.
Ends: May 23
Price: $25-$30
Contact: (213) 628-2772
Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes
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