When Reality Crashes Into a Tree

Tim Crouch’s brilliant act of conjuring

Comments (0) By Steven Leigh Morris Wednesday, Jan 13 2010

Crouch portrays agony over what he’s done, stops his performance midsentence to give an instruction to Smith — “Say yes, that’s right’ ” — and Smith does. Then Crouch snaps back into his conjured agony.

This is what Bertolt Brecht dreamed of when he came up with theory of the alienation effect. In the ’90s, they might have called it Postmodernism, but it’s closer to Brecht because it’s actually an emotional experience, not just the dissection of one.

William Adashek

Tim Crouch, authentic fakery, faking authenticity

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In life, Claire was taking piano lessons, and we hear her flawed rendition of a Bach piano étude while Andy stands by a frigid roadside at dawn, next to an oak tree. He gently scoops out sections of the oak tree, which he has transformed into Claire. I’ve never seen a depiction of grief so tender and harrowing at the same time.

Andy’s wife, Dawn, goes insane, despairing that her husband is so removed from the reality of what’s happening. She says he needs closure. Were you ever in love with me, or Claire, she asks? Or with the idea of us.

Exactly. Welcome to the land of the romantics, where empirical truths are just a bit too much to bear. Welcome to the land where a glass of water becomes an oak tree, or an oak tree becomes a deeply missed child. Welcome to the land of fictions that are both deluded and restorative — removing us from prosaic realities while helping us to find ourselves at the same time. Welcome to the theater.

AN OAK TREE | Written and performed by TIM CROUCH | Presented by PAGE ONE PRODUCTIONS and the ODYSSEY THEATRE, 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., W.L.A. | Through February 14 | (310) 477-2055, ext. 2