ANGER/NATION explores the contradictory puritanical and hedonistic underpinnings of the American psyche by colliding the psychedelic aesthetic of occult filmmaker Kenneth Anger with the histrionic escapades of the self-proclaimed "America's Loving Home Defender," Carrie A. Nation -- a remarkable 19th century, hatchet-wielding temperance crusader. Using miniature floating video monitors, post-it notes, licorice, and a healthy dose of fairy dust, Radiohole conjures a "pleasuredome" populated by an unpredictable mˇlange of questionable characters ranging from random Roman centurions to male cherubs that force Carrie A. Nation to wield her hatchet against sin and degradation -- only to then find herself in the grips of a voluptuous spiritual transformation of her own.
PERFORMED:
The Kitchen
September 2008
The Noorderzon Festival
August 2008
Donau Festival
April/May 2008
REVIEWS:
The New York Times, By JASON ZINOMAN
Moral Righteousness Meets Down and Dirty "It's a stunning stage image, like something out of a Robert Wilson production, translating nature into sleek technology."
The Brooklyn Rail, Alexis Clements Hooch & Hatchetation Radiohole takes on the Nation
"Carrie A. Nation is all color and personality. And yes, itÕs on purpose that her name reads like a righteous phrase, she trademarked it."
PaperMag, By Tom Murrin STAGE NOTES: ANGER/NATION
"Radiohole always seems to go further to do something on stage that you wonÕt see anywhere else."
TimeOut NY, David Cote Anger/Nation
"As at most Radiohole events, audience members are there to witness a cryptic but well-crafted machine in action. Gender roles, mortality and the monotony of erotic obsession are explored amid a barrage of light and sound effects. WhatÕs new is the scale and complexity of the set, which is truly baroque."
