Vanessa Severn’s One-Woman Show Draws on the Life of Frida Kahlo
Delivering a Powerful Portrait of the Artist
In a powerful personal journey of self-discovery, Brazilian playwright and actor Vanessa Severo, channels the life of notable Mexican artist Frida Kahlo through a monologue. Based on an imagined interview, the story has a continuous thread that creates an interview Frida might have had with a journalist visiting her at La Casa Azul her home in Coyoacán, Mexico. Although this story is fictitious, it serves as a framework for the performance. Frida did give interviews at her home, and on a recent visit to take in an extensive exhibit of her work at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, I watched an archival home movie of her and Diego giving a tour of La Casa Azul to a visitor.
Contracting polio as a child and later in her teens physically impaired by a horrific accident while impaled by a metal handrail from a trolley, Frida had an unusual and complicated life, yet her indomitable spirit coupled with her unique artistic abilities and penchant for describing her pain through haunting and revelatory self-portraits she embellished with depictions of Mexican culture and nature, show a woman in constant turmoil.
To tell Frida’s life story, clotheslines hold dozens of items representing the characters or specific moments in the turmoiled life of the artist – some items are clearly for girls, some for men, while others reflect clothing worn at various stages of Frida’s life. As she tells the story, Severo dons each piece inhabiting whichever character she is portraying. To add to the power of these items she speaks in a range of voices mirroring their disparate personalities to include her husband, the renowned Mexican muralist Diego Rivera; her boyfriend at the time of the accident; and her stern German father.
Severo identifies with Frida’s interior life because of her own physical deformity. As an artist born with a partially deformed right hand, Severo was given the choice of having her toes severed and reconnected to her hand when she was a child, Severo demurred as she tells the audience, asking the surgeon, “But how will I dance?” before turning down the operation. Severo’s lyrical dance movements highlight the story. Occasionally breaking the Fourth Wall to speak directly to the audience, checking in to see if we are understanding Frida’s grief and empathizing with her suffering.
A story delivered with humor, grace and emotion, Severo’s desire to reveal her own truth through Frida is absorbing and deeply affecting.
Written and performed by Vanessa Severo; Directed by Joanie Schultz; Scenic Design by Jacqueline Penrod; Costume Design by Katherine Davis; Lighting Design by Rachael Cady; Sound Designer & Composer Thomas Dixon; Stage Manager Janine Vanderhoff.
Through November 8th at the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Klein Theatre, 450 7th Street NW, Washington, DC 20004. For tickets and information call the box office at 202.547.1122 or visit www.ShakespeareTheatre.org.
