CHAOS
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The theory of chaos values inclusion over exclusion. Wholeness over dissection. Dynamics over stasis. The paradoxical over the linear. It’s science finally discovering what Walt Whitman, William Blake, Meister Eckehart, and the Buddha knew all along.
But what it’s got to do with the Lifeline show called Chaos, I can’t exactly say. Written by the quartet of Christina Calvit, Louise Freistadt, John Szostek, and Steve Totland, Chaos seems to consider itself a theatrical realization of ideas associated with chaos theory; I’d be more inclined to think of it as a theatrical realization of certain warm-and-runny, sweetly mystical feelings that ooze around that theory.
No, the point isn’t that Chaos apes Oz, but that both works express a mythic pattern of seeking, discovery, and transformation–of birth, death, and rebirth–that repeats itself not only in stories from Gilgamesh to Candide, but in human consciousness and the very mess of nature. The folks behind Chaos know this. In fact, they know it somewhat too well–which is why they’ve sunk the piece in references to chaos theory and ostentatious bits from their other great inspiration, mythologist Joseph Campbell. The worst parts of Chaos are the ones where the authors and ensemble pass up the story in favor of footnoting it. If I were inclined to Zen name-dropping, I’d say this show had the stink of satori about it.
