“˜In On It’ confuses viewers by mixing reality with art

  Photos from UCLA Performing Arts UCLA Performing Arts

Daniel MacIvor (left) and Darren
O’Donnell star in da da kamera’s production of
“In On It,” playing at the UCLA Freud Playhouse.

By Sara Mortimer
Daily Bruin Contributor

Sometimes art and real life are indistinguishable from each
other.

Canadian writer-director Daniel MacIvor shows how art can step
into life and life can step into art in his play “In On
It,” coming to UCLA’s Freud Playhouse today through
April 13.

MacIvor has been creating theater since 1986. Aside from
writing, directing, and acting in plays, he is also co-founder of
da da kamera theater company along with the play’s producer,
Sherrie Johnson. All of the productions of da da kamera involve a
direct exchange between the performer and the audience.

This explains why their plays are rehearsed in front of
audiences for up to two years.

“I came to the theater very innocently, very
naively,” said MacIvor in a phone interview from Toronto.
“To me, a play is something that happens in front of an
audience, and a script is something that exists on paper. We
aren’t making scripts, we’re making plays. So how can
you develop a play without putting it in front of people and
getting a feel for what it is?”

“In On It” is an interweaving of three distinct
realities that seamlessly blend into one at the end of the play.
Two men, This One (MacIvor) and That One (Darren O’Donnell),
are trying to make a play about a dying man named Ray. As the two
quarrel on stage about the development of the play, the third
aspect of the play unfolds. It is in the past, where This One
and That One meet and become lovers.

There are no intermissions between these three realities, and no
obvious transitions. This One and That One swap identities,
interrupt each other, and jump from one reality to the next on an
almost bare stage.  The only signifier of who is whom is a
grey sports jacket, which the two characters take turns
wearing.

“A lot of the show is about walking in and not knowing
anything,” said MacIvor. “The show presents itself as
one thing and it causes you to make certain judgements about what
it is.  Then it starts to change and it makes you question
what your judgments were.”

Questioning is in fact what makes this play significant. This
One and That One draw questions from the start, ranging from how to
word their play to how to portray women.  “What’s
so potentially offending about it?” asks That One as the two
bicker about “female ejaculation.”

The bickering between these two men is what makes them
personable, and it also provides light-heartedness that is much
needed amidst the sobering theme of the play.

This One and That One’s disagreements over the making of
their play eventually lead them down memory lane, where they recall
a goofy dance they did to Lesley Gore’s “Sunshine,
Lollipops.”

Autobiographical recollections such as these fluidly blend with
the fictional story of Ray’s attempt to tie up loose ends
before he dies. This causes the audience to lose sight of the
boundaries between actors and characters, fiction and real
life.

The only concrete element to the play is the theme itself.

“The biggest theme of the play is grief and loss,”
said Johnson.

The play reminds the audience that art stems from real issues,
and suggests that that creation may be just another form of
reality.

“It is the things in our lives that we are stuck with, and
the things that have traumatized us that we make our work
about,” said MacIvor. “I have a fear of death for
whatever reason. All my work, in some way, addresses a way to turn
death into something living.”

By using a few props on stage, MacIvor is able to explore his
theme without distractions.

“We only put on the stage what is essential,” said
Johnson. This adds to the interaction between the audience and the
performance.

“It’s important for us to kick start our
imaginations again,” said MacIvor. “I could say,
“˜Here we stand on this hill,’ and the hill you imagine
will be far more beautiful than any stupid hill that we could build
out of a bunch of crap.”

“We seldomly talk with one another about what the play
means,” MacIvor said. “We just believe that our ideas
are maybe not as good as yours as the outside eye.”

THEATER: “In On It” runs from
Wednesday through Saturday, April 10-13 at 8 p.m. at UCLA’s
Freud Playhouse.  It is a single act and runs for 70 minutes.
 Tickets are two for the price of one and can be purchased by
calling the Central Ticket Office at (310) 825-2101.
Post-performance discussions are being held on Friday and
Saturday.