Review: ‘The Parabox’ at Son of Semele

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Commercial seduction battles existential simplicity amid the abstract angles of ‘The Parabox’ at Son of Semele theater. This guest attraction from Post Fact Productions enfolds its core message within a relatively ornate avant-garde framework.

Make that ‘avant hard,’ which is how co-directors/performers Rachel Kolar and Lauren Brown describe their ethos. Merging movement, sound, text and socially conscious subjects, Post Fact aims to create widespread experimental performance through the marriage of local progressive music and theater.

Accordingly, ‘Parabox’ features a vivid soundtrack from Future Pigeon and Lucky Dragons, and intriguing designs on a dime, with Dayv Sweetland’s lighting especially mordant. Kolar’s oblique narrative concerns a pair of elemental entities who run the gamut of postmodern desires and conflicts after exposure to the title object, a metaphor for television and the influence of Madison Avenue.

Highlights include the tickling opening video set on a craggy beach, a side-by-side erotic interlude behind hanging frames that dominate the bare-bones set, and the climactic arrival of competitive trains of silver-sprayed cardboard boxes.

Both artists are notably talented, lithe in their unitards, landing Brown’s choreography and the stylized dialogue with easily correlated conviction. Kolar is a shade more facially resonant, Brown a bit wider of vocal range, but they make an impressively well-matched duo.

Less decisive is the brevity of the piece, which barely makes its ambitious case before it abruptly ends. The various performance art techniques on display are admirable, yet at times flashes of art-school whimsy less paradoxical than precious are detectable. There are interesting, worthy notions in ‘The Parabox.’ Its creators are certainly an experimental pair to keep an eye on. However, its resourceful packaging rather outstrips its slender content.

--David C. Nichols

‘The Parabox,’ Son of Semele, 3301 Beverly Blvd., L.A. 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays. Ends March 29. $12. (781) 710-1402. Running time: 35 minutes.

Caption: Rachel Kolar, left, Lauren Brown in ‘The Parabox.’ Credit: Carl McLarty