Kelsey Milbourn and the cast of ‘La Maupin: The French Abomination’ (Courtesy photos)
As part of ATTPAC’s The Elevator Project season, Prism Movement Theater (PMT) opened its latest show La Maupin: The French Abomination earlier this month for a three day run. The show gets a second life this week at the Latino Cultural Center. Prism opens the show on Friday, July 25.
In short, see it if you can for a forgotten piece of queer history but also a piece of art that had a little bit of everything: dance, drama, opera and even a damn aerial artist.
This review is based on its initial run and staging at Hamon Hall.
Instead of a stage, the audience flanked the action on both sides as if watching a fashion show. In some ways, watching La Maupin was akin to that experience. Gorgeous costumes, exciting swordplay and dramatic movement paraded up and down the space which made for a stunning spectacle under the eye of director Kelsey Milbourn who also wrote and starred in the production.
The story centers on Julie D’Aubigny, a duelist and opera singer who had both male and female lovers while taking on the fashions of both masculine and feminine. She fought men and wooed women in 18th century France. In Milbourn’s story, she is labeled an abomination but defiantly flaunts her same-gender love to valiant lengths. D’Aubigny literally burned down a convent to save her lover. Later, she duels three men. D’Aubigny don’t play and Milbourn crafted a heroic queer character that was easy to root for and sympathize with.
Told more through dance, movement and sword figthing, the play can be jarring to those (like myself) new to PMT. Spoken dialogue was sparse. Instead, the actors moved in conversation as recordings of dialogue played in both French and English with supertitles posted.
La Maupin opened with a dynamic gathering of the cast whooping up the audience into cheering on a mix of friendly duels. This was a thrilling start that immediately showcased exciting fight choreography and sword fights. The clanging of the swords as each fighting actor moved gracefully and rapidly was riveting to witness. This would repeat in later duels showcasing Mitchell Stephens talents as Fight Coordinator. Milbourn kept the thrill of the duels to a minimum which allowed for its maximum effect.
The drama of La Maupin unfolded in tender ballets and gorgeous group gatherings. The blocking of each actor’s position always felt layered and rich with Milbourn creating stunning tableaus as the characters moved in and around. This added to the lovely unfolding of La Maupin‘s drama. That and Aaron Patrick LeClerk’s costuming which conveyed that richness of French aristocracy mixed with a punk edginess.
The show utilized a screen for multiple uses: translation, scene identifiers and special effects. Brevan Crawford’s aerial performance was an effective surprise to be treated to. Courtney Amaro’s lighting washed the stage with rich blues and pinks as well as moody darkness. Expressing D’Aubigny’s talents as an opera singer was Sarah Yaden who filled the space with beautiful vocal prowess.
If there was a challenge to La Maupin, it would be in the pre-recordings that almost felt alien to the action onstage. While clear to understand, the quality of the recording felt a bit muddled and the loudness conflicted with the simultaenous drama. There was an irony to the effectiveness of the screen’s scene labels. That helped with the narrative, but when scenes entered double-digits it simply began to feel longer than it was. That being said, the show – in all its layers and display – was impressively efficient at about 80 minutes with no intermission.
These are small criticisms though because what Milbourn and their team did was present a worthwhile and beautiful piece of theater that was historic and historical fiction all through a queer lens. Like a painting come to life, La Maupin was an artistic triumph for Prism. And props to Milbourn for bringing attention to this legendary queer badass through innovative and compelling dance and theater.
The show runs through Aug. 3 at the Latino Cultural Center.
–Rich Lopez