TBA:08

I practically spent the entire week at TBA:08; in fact, rather than driving to Portland as frequently as I did I should have just camped out under a bridge! Anyway, of the multitude of performances I witnessed my favorites were definitely both of Mike Daisy's epic two hour monologues (Monopoly! and If You See Something, Say Something) and Tim Crouch's England. For the purposes of this forum, let's discuss Crouch's work.

England, in a nutshell, is a narrative presented as a stream of consciousness. We are given the introspective, and at times random declarations of a London woman living in a flat with her sometimes negligent Dutch boyfriend, who happens to sell art. Eventually we learn through the characters thoughts that her heart is in fact failing due to some sort of disease. England is performed both by Crouch and Hannah Ringham whom, as Crouch explained to me later, is actually from London. I must say that both actors played off of each other wonderfully; in fact, the timing was perfect enough to induce an utterly surreal feeling throughout the entire performance.

Another interesting aspect of England is the fact that it is neither performed on a stage nor to a seated audience for the majority of the performance. It's incredibly odd to look into the smiling, yet slightly oblivious face of an actor who, standing a mere six feet from you, estatically declares "I have a boyfriend!"

Anyway, the bottom line is is you missed Englandyou missed out. Perhaps you saw some of the more stupid stuff at TBA:08?

Bryce VanHoosen