Shadow Madonna : Frida Kahlo at Ochre House

There’s always something intriguing brewing at Matthew Posey’s Ochre House. Currently it’s : Ex Voto : The Immaculate Conceptions of Frida Kahlo, his homage to Mexican iconoclast painter, Frida Kahlo. Steeped in inventive, extensive imagery of El Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) Ex Voto explains and extols Kahlo’s painful journey as she struggles to come to terms with chronic injury, illness, and her tumultuous marriage to muralist Diego Rivera. Posey uses huge reproductions of Kahlo’s paintings, life-sized skeleton puppets, tableaux, and a witty, yet very serious mariachi trio of death musicians. Briefly, El Dia de Los Muertos is an elaborate celebration very popular in Mexican culture, where spirits of lost loved ones are honored upon their brief return to earth (November 1-2). This holiday in which death is embraced ties into the crucible that was Kahlo’s life, where agony and suffering were constant reminders of her mortality. In one of the aforementioned paintings, we see Kahlo depicted as a baby suckling at the teat of (I’m thinking) illness or death.

Much of Ex Voto’s text is delivered by spoken narration, as we learn about Kahlo’s childhood, her years as a student and rebel, her courtship with Rivera, her insatiable need for lovers of both genders, and the horrendous accident that would continue to wreak havoc throughout her days. While riding a bus, Frida was injured in a catastrophic crash, that injured her spine, and what might be discreetly described as “taking her virginity.” The dark, sardonic nature of this incident would seem to be replayed over and over, in one instance or another. Their mutual intensity is probably what drew Rivera and Kahlo together, and what made life together for them next to impossible. Every attempt that she made to repair the damage to her spine only made the situation worse, as if she were being punished for merely seeking respite. You could just as easily have titled Posey’s drama, “The Martyrdom of Saint Frida” and I mean that as a compliment. He is describing a symbiotic relationship between suffering and world-changing artistry. Unable to give conventional birth, Kahlo becomes a kind of Shadow Madonna, her paintings engendered by seemingly endless misery.

Ex Voto is nothing if not compelling, though I’m not convinced the carefully planned elements ultimately coalesce. You have to respect the risks that Posey takes. A recurring scene in which insipid, racist, cavalier surgeons continue to botch their treatment of Kahlo could be a commentary on the absurdity lurking at the core of abject tragedy, though not quite apparent while a doctor pretends to climb into Kahlo’s uterus. Understand, me, please. When dealing with the chaos of cruel destiny who can say what amounts to legitimate spin? And some of it may depend on your personal take. A bit of alleviation might not have been such a bad idea. While some might say Kahlo succeeded despite her suffering, Posey seems to suggest that it was because of it.

Much of Ex Voto’s success turns on the powerful, unwavering performance of Elizabeth Evans as Frida Kahlo (supported by an agile, provocative cast). So much of this piece requires stillness and attitude, and I have to say, Ms. Evans made you feel as if Kahlo was actually there, enduring the harshness and travails of an astonishing gauntlet. Ex Voto is certainly an engaging spectacle, and a memorable tribute to a courageous, defiant painter who left this merciless, ridiculous world better than she found it. I highly recommend it.

The Ochre House Proudly presents : Ex Voto : The Immaculate Conceptions of Frida Kahlo, written and directed by Matthew Posey, playing November 5th -19th, 2011. Wednesday-Saturday 8:15 PM. 825 Exposition Avenue, Dallas, Texas 75226. 214-826-6273. www.ochrehousetheater.com

Starring : Elizabeth Evans, Kevin Grammer, Dante Martinez, Mitchell Parrack, Cyndee Rivera, Trenton Stephenson. Las Joselitas Muertas: Justin Locklear (Guitordion) Delilah Buitron (Vocalist) Stefan Gonzalez (Percussion).