AIDS and Lollipops

Humour aside, it was a very powerful show and another show about stuff. This is clearly Issue Week at the IDFB; although Khan's show was more complex. Which kind of got me thinking - was it better? I have to say - and I'll probably get lynched (again) for saying this cos everyone loved this show - but I did think Khan's was better, maybe because it was more complex. Perhaps it's just the participatory joy of trying to figure something out, rather than being handed meaning on a plate. That frisson of intellectual excitement about something a little bit complex. Or perhaps I just like a bit of mystery ..

But then there's something really powerful about simplicity; and Orlin's show is full of striking and memorable simple visual images that really hit the message home.

I suppose I was wondering whether the dance was powerful in itself, or powerful because of what it was about. If you took away the AIDS issue and pretended that it was a performance about sandwiches, would it still have the same forcce? bahok, I think, would still have that quality of impact, but I'm not sure about this one. It can be difficult to critique issue-based work (although please remember, this is not a critique, it is a Festival diary - I am talking theoretically here) as you start to get into murky water in terms of how good something is as opposed to how worthy something is, and the two can be different. But then, I suppose you're back to the age-old (and probably impossible to answer) question of what makes a performance - or any other kind of art - 'good'? Answers on a postcard please. (Or alternatively, you could just leave a comment..)

We Must Eat Our Lollipops With The Wrappers On is, however, both good and worthy (and has the longest title in the world) and I really do recommend you go and see it - it's still on on Saturday. I can guarantee you will enjoy it. Which sounds like an odd thing to say about a performance on the not-exactly-cheery subject of HIV and AIDS...