From the Age of Discovery to the effects of today's globalization, Oens portrays a disquieting, ordinary man and his journey to self-realization. The Portuguese suffix "Ões," from which the title of the play is derived, is used for making nouns into the plural and the augmentative forms. Most important, it is part of the name of the 16th century Portuguese poet Luiz Vaz de Camões (Camoens, in English) who wrote the most famous epic poem in the Portuguese language, The Lusiads , which describes Vasco da Gama's voyage via southern Africa to India in 1497-1498. Published in 1572, this poem describes such a pioneering voyage, exposing a turning-point in mankind's knowledge of the world. Bringing and mixing the past and the present, Oens shows that globalization is not a recently coined word in today's vocabulary. It all started with the Age of Discovery when explorers left Europe for the New World. Lots of changes have inevitably been taking place on the planet since then. For the better? For the worse? The audience will certainly decide after experiencing the play. Through music, mime and dance, Oens also enacts the eternal wish for a better world.

The enigmatic Wilson Loria returns to the Orlando stage with a beautifully mysterious rumination on modernization and change. Entering the room under a huge whit umbrella, he greets all audience members individually as audio clips of wars and disasters crackle from the sound booth. We begin with the mechanics of sailing around the Horn of Africa in search of the riches of India, as developed by the Portuguese. Only the amazing nautical innovations the Portuguese brought to sailing would allow this small impoverished country to dominate and exploit a wealthy land half a world away. They did as good a job as anyone since, and spread Western ideas and disease as they went. Further along, we hear a beautiful and untranslated Brazilian song, as enigmatic as an unopened letter. But the Portuguese are not evil, no more so than any other culture based on profit, and the tragic romance of Don Pedro and Inez highlights the humanity of the exploiters. Finally, we sit through a rather odd news conference hosted by Mr. Loria, explaining the administrative details of exploitation, including a plan to make the aboriginals sing paper after paper after paper... That's my favorite strategy for deflecting evilness - bury it in paper work. "Oens" is the most thought provoking show on the program, and it deserves some reflection before you head to the beer tent.

Ink 19 :: Number 52 - Warming up the Stage Edition

OENS is the type of show that can be considered eye-opening (i.e. it has an agenda). The interesting thing about eye-openers is this: even if your eyes are already open, a show like OENS will only serve to affirm that your eyes should remain open. Brazilian Wilson Loria uses recorded music, live vocal music, dance, pantomime, maps and outrageous costumes to compare sailing on a galleon to collect spices from India and slaves from Africa to today's import of jobs, modern life and McDonald's to developing nations.

Wilson began the show by greeting each person in the audience, calling some of them by name, remembering who has been to his show before, who said they were coming and where they were from. He lets the audience know that they are there participating in the narrative, because they are citizens of the same Earth. Music and sound bytes from old radio broadcasts recount nearly every global war or conflict since the birth of recorded music, all the way up to George H. Bush's reign.

A romanticized ocean voyage to exotic India follows, with a stop near Madagascar to interact with aborigines, and an all-too modern council of war with the likes of Athena, Hermes and Dionysus replacing General, Secretary of Defense and other positions. The piece slowly transitions into posing questions as to what globalization of corporations and capitalism are doing to the world. The motto "We should be concerned with Being, not Posessing" provides a capstone for the messages presentedin the program.

As for the show itself, audience members will likely be lost as to the meaning of the songs (sung in portugese) and the purpose of the mime within the story structure. Some parts of the show are not as tightly scripted as others, and it shows. The real payoff comes at the end, where Wilson read from a printout, not my favorite means of delivery, but he did use the pages as a prop, so I cannot slight him on that.

Wilson will be delighted if you stop by and see his show. If you see him in the halls at Fringe, you should at least thank him for making the trip to America to share his talents with us. Fringe 2006 would not be complete without OENS; at least that's my opinion.

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