COCKROACH

Photo by Marion Gray

Set in a house of mind.

Eyes open to blind rooms, hidden events and memories buried by order and harmony.

The plague begins within. The plague has always existed.
Cockroaches spill from the cracked wall of gentile behavior.

"Blood, earth, water, breath. Local choreographer Shinichi Iova-Koga directs interdisciplinary performance troupe InkBoat through a death march of the cataleptic soul in "Cockroach," an Eastern variation on a Kafkaesque nightmare in which a broken man, haunted by veiled memories of regret and desire, refuses to go gentle into the night. The problem is he's arguably been dead his whole life. But unwilling to accept his fate, he tortures himself in his last moments with fragmented visions of his headless bride, whose longing for intimacy he could never match.

Warped limbs and spines, exaggerated hand gestures, anguished faces. These images in Inkboat's solos and partnering vignettes, which comprise the backbone of the choreography, stem from Japanese butoh, the post-war avant-garde movement school that draws its power from the internal combustion of introspection. Other fiery elements in the piece include a trio of ragged dancers, perhaps representing the Furies, who torment our fallen hero, screeching like snake-tongued banshees, poking at him with hot wires, mimicking his decay by dangling their own bloody tentacles from the wings of the stage.

In "Cockroach," the abstract drama uses cinematic devices - from still frames to slow motion to car-chase velocity - and improvisatory techniques to create a natural ebb and flow in the tension. The music acts as a central character in the piece as well. Performed live on mostly homemade instruments and found objects by a quartet that includes avant-rockers Nils Frykdahl and Dan Rathbun of Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, the deeply percussive soundtrack echoes both the din of an industrial junkyard and the tuneful symphonic beats of 20th-century classical maven Iannis Xenakis. Cold, metallic, and eerie, the score heightens the dance's sense of loss and unbearable sorrow.

Though largely a serious work, flashes of dark existentialist comedy emerge, e.g., when the estranged wife slaps the broken man and when she erupts into a fit of absurd giddiness. But much like the unexpected humor in Kafka's stories, these events trigger a quick chuckle, then an
uneasiness sets in, which mirrors the dying man's uncomfortable metamorphosis into frog, lizard, snake, insect - as if only devolution will save his empty soul."

- Sam Prestianni, SF Weekly, 11/2001

Conception, Direction, Choreography
Shinichi Iova-Koga

Realization and Development
inkBoat

Dance
Leigh Evans
Tanya Calamoneri
Yuko Kaseki
Momo Io
Haruko Nishimura
Paige Sorvillo
Kinji Hayashi

Music and Dance
Allen Willner
Joshua Kohl
Nils Frykdahl
Dan Rathbun

Lighting
Allen Willner

Costume Design
Erin Blendu

Set Design
Frank Lee
Allen Willner
Nate Fredenburg
Dan Rathbun
Alenka Mullin-Loesch

Dramaturgy
Sten Rudstrøm

Technical Director
Allen Willner

Early Development/Performers
Cassie Terman
Carla Kihlstedt
Eugenio Brodbeck
Moe! Staiano
Jennifer Fong

Photo by Marcus Leiberenz

Cockroach toured throughout the West Coast and in Germany in 2000 and 2001.

The film version of Cockroach, titled
The Duchess by Eric Koziol and inkBoat is now available.