Filling in the gaps 08/11/2013 - 5:02am

The second show I knew I intended to see coming into the 2013 Fringe was the latest piece by the widely lauded creative masterminds at work in Transatlantic Love Affair. (Huge disclaimer again: Macalester blood runs deep. Moving on.) A relative newcomer to their legacy, I was fortunate to catch last year’s Ash Land at the Rarig, amidst all the buzz and sell-outs. With no barometer for such work, I adored the piece for its creativity and physicality, its life and heart. Yet I furrowed my brow over the storyline itself, wondering if that was truly the story the company intended to tell. These Old Shoes redirects the company’s attention to careful storytelling. From the fantastical to the almost mundane (Ballad of a Pale Fisherman to These Old Shoes), these performers here craft a whirlwind from the unspoken wisps of the past that barrel into the walls of today. True to form, these performers embody characters and furniture with ease, transforming and transposing their bodies through movement and sound, brushing out new landscapes and soundscapes with every adjustment. Every movement is precise, yet spirited. Every breath onstage ushers in a new memory, a new story, a new timeline. Is that not how memories typically float into our minds? And this company’s members listen so carefully to their worlds that they expose the humor in these seemingly ordinary moments and places: the compression of a chair, the squeak of a gate, the tick of a grandfather clock. It is in these simple moments that the company truly shines. It is in these otherwise quiet moments that the audience relates inwards, touches its hearts to these characters, and sighs with empathy and heartache at the passage of time. Perhaps that is why this show succeeds. The storyline is hardly new, but the audience investment demanded by movement-based theater, sprinkled with quips and laughs, tightens the show and the audience waits with bated breath at every transition. Lovingly scored by Dustin Tessier, this piece showcases the impressive talents of Diogo Lopes and Isabel Nelson’s company of performers. At its center stand a loving granddaughter (Adelin Phelps) and her nostalgic and troubled grandfather (Derek Lee Miller). Spiraling from the other end of his memory flicker his long lost love (Peytie McCandless) and a war that utterly changed his being. These are the kinds of stories that draw us in, shelter us in their warmth, and make us hope for happy endings. The departure from our societal love affair with youth also wins over this Minnesotan audience, as the depth of an older love moves us towards contentment. This show suggests that all of your life is about living. A friend confessed to me afterwards: “This may be the only thing I have seen this year at the Fringe that I would call beautiful.” All this being said, the blinding whiteness of this cast deserves commentary. Perhaps what this company gains in relatability and adaptability through a white cast, it similarly loses in the vibrancy of other layers of storytelling. Yet the layers this company displays showcase their skill and attention to stories. And it is stories that drive our hearts and the arts. Unsurprisingly, the Transatlantic Love Affair has won Audience Pick for the Music Box Theater. TONIGHT, 8:30 PM. Find tickets here. Prepare to get teary-eyed.