Access Atlanta > Arts > Our Reviews > Archives > 2005 > July > 22 > Entry
Will Power at NBAF
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
THEATER REVIEW. ”Flow.” Through Saturday.
He looks like he’s 7 feet tall, and uses his willowy physique and relentless energy to build a nimble and expressive style. But the thing that seems to inform the soul of hip-hop actor Will Power, who collects artistic labels like some people do plastic wristbands, is his ability to dispatch his community’s stories with passion and flavor.
Maybe this dynamic bard from the ’hood invents the characters who inhabit his one-man show, “Flow,â€? which continues tonight as part of the National Black Arts Festival. Or maybe he taps them from real life. What’s amazing is the way his urban prophets appear to be organically synthesized from his collective experiences — his hopes, his dreams, his nightmares.
With a soundscape performed live by turntable artist DJ Reborn, “Flow� celebrates the African-American oral tradition by describing a parade of contemporary urban griots who the narrator encounters on his inner-city rambles.
There’s ”free-styleâ€? girl rapper Sweet Pea, who carries on a friendly argument with an ”old-school” rhymer about their generational divide. A grocery bagger who moonlights as a preacher and incites the wrath of his Baptist brethren. A drunkard named Breeze who entertains the crowd with tales of “Fred the Cockroach.â€? And so on.
Along the way, Power, who dances barefoot in a circle of sand, manages to rhyme ”Betty” with “spaghettiâ€? and introduces us to a seagull named Aquanetta. (”Unlike the other gulls, she lets you pettah.”)
Because Power’s language rarely gets more explicit than that, the performance feels appropriate for all ages.
Perhaps the only thing unsettling about “Flowâ€? is Power’s darkly comic vision. (Even his roaches have angst.) Like the Homeric poets who preceded him, Power’s primary preoccupations are death and heroism. One by one, his naive philosophers are slowly obliterated. How sad to be the last one standing.
THE 411: “Flow.� $22.50-$25. 8 p.m. July 22-23. 14th Street Playhouse, 173 14th St. N.E., Midtown. 404-733-5000. www.nbaf.org.
Permalink | | Categories: Theater
EMAIL THIS
PRINT THIS
MOST POPULAR
