★★★
“If we don’t talk, we forgot.”
This is the first sentence uttered in the intellectual and inventive Definition of Men. Throughout it brings to the forefront our deepest desire of finding each other, but more importantly, ourselves through a dynamic duet about being alive.
Set in an apocalyptic world in an abandoned wasteland, XX (Nikki Muller) and XY (Jason Rosario) are the last living humans on earth. Together they face long known insecurities about intimacy, belonging and identity though an impressive philosophical and psychological lecture-performance that is combined with poetry, autobiographical storytelling and physical theatre.
Definition Of Men is performed and created by Rosario and Muller, who also wrote the script. It is directed by J.J. Mayes, with staging and movement by co-director Tavi Stutz and fight choreography by Mike Mahaffey.
The creators of Definition Of Men do not hide our subjective worldview as well as the intertextual landscape that we inhabit where everything has already been said. Therefore, the show is an attempt to combine knowledge, passed through generations, with personal experiences in order to express the self and communicate with one another. The result is a fragmentation of textual, verbal and physical snippets about the encounter between the ‘last Adam and Eve’ (as they are implied to be) as the duo debate, fight, tease and love each other between isolation and togetherness.
Definition of Man tells the story of XX who develops trust issues and possibly OCD after her German father leaves her mother. It also tells the story of XY who was born in Puerto Rico, and has lost any intuition of a future and a sense of self while growing up in America. But mostly, it deals with the body-mind gap explaining the phenomenon of developing a self during Lacan’s Mirror Stage that, paradoxically, isolates us – the self we look at – from feeling complete and infinite. Furthermore, it is about the failure of language to express who we are. The power dynamics of verbal and physical communication between XX and XY shifts from loneliness over rage towards a possible union made of two inseparable parts.
The inner monologues detailing confessions about doubts, fears and anxieties are cleverly separated through changes of light and body language. Nevertheless, they could be communicated more clearly by taking time to transition between the various states of mind. The performance has moments of genuine communication and powerful personal passages. However, sometimes the acting seems pushed and not as light as it could be. The potential is there and can be felt throughout the piece, but it needs to be trusted and to be given more attention by slowing down. The whole performance is deeply challenging and rich in its content, but would benefit from a clearer focus in order to process the waves of impressions and information.
The intellectual journey of Definition of Men deeply touches the nerves of our existence in its struggle to communicate the self to one another and the self. The need to talk is poetically undermined by the last duet that showcases the desire to be whole. A greatly devised piece with a few edges to smooth.
Definition Of Men is playing at Greenside at Infirmary Street as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival until 25 August. For further information and tickets, click here.
Photo: Nikki Muller and Jason Rosario