Word: ward
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...them down, sometimes using antipsychotic drugs, so that they can return home and be treated in a more familiar environment. There have been a few escapes from the facility, notably that of "Samson," a burly Canadian who demonstrated his Old Testament credentials by ripping the metal grille off a ward window. A hospital staff member spotted him at a bus station and retrieved him without incident...
...emphasize his liminal state, Ward's grandfather harangues form atop ladder and then hops with the ladder across the stage. Later he descends a metal grid by sliding his body in between the bars with half his body outside of the grid, half in. He exists partially in reality and partially in another world. In addition to creating striking images, these tactics are intelligent displays of how a madman might view movement...
...play's most successful sequence, Ward is humiliated by two masked figures who dance around him, ripping out pages from his book and stuffing them in his mouth. As he begs for mercy, he is raised by a pulley and left to dangle in the air. The scene is cast in a red light, effectively evoking a hellish atmosphere. The torturers re costumed in sensuously textured clothing, making Ward's torment appear like a circus...
...Remnant" incorporates a series of atonal compositions which further add to the work's subliminal spell. While one scene mixes chromatic pitches with blobs of piano notes, another combines the shriveled sound of a rewinding tape recorder with the cacophony of urban traffic. Bellowing horns mark the beginning of Ward's descent into the afterlife. Ward's grandfather drags him around the room suffocating him with a trumpet. Though Ward manages to blow, the sound is like that of a dying animal. For the most part, however, these atonal compositions lurk beneath the viewer's attention...
Director Jennifer Johnson (Kristen's sister) keeps the characters' personas tightly wound which makes their lines stiff and subordinate to the light and sound effects. Ward's occasional temper tantrums rely on loudness without exploring his internal trauma. The characters' stamina leads them to practically throw themselves into ritualistic scenes, only to emerge later, dazed and confused. In describing his plans, Ward sketches frenetically on the stage's back wall. Again, the circular motions of his spotlit hand are hypnotic. Despite over-highlighted props and a physicality that overwhelms the acting, "The Remnant" whips up genuine suspense because the characters...