I’m not sure what “Stivale” is, but I kind of want it.

The invented word, a la “Verizon,” “Allegra” or “Prius,” serves as the title of Torn Space Theater’s new conceptual production about consumerism, the advertising industry and the seemingly arbitrary creation of desire for products we didn’t even know we wanted.

The 70-minute, uninterrupted and essentially nonnarrative piece begins with an ingenious, albeit unintended, visual trick that is by far the most compelling part of the evening. A singer, Kelly Meg Brennan, stands in front of three intensely bright fluorescent bulbs standing vertically. Clad in a glittery black dress befitting a siren, she belts out a beautiful section from Heitor Villa-Lobos’ “Bachianas Brasileiras.” When she finishes, the lights flicker off, and she walks slowly and stylistically across the stage (a Torn Space trademark move). The lights surround her, and consequently the negative space of her image has been seared into audience members’ eyes, so that whenever they blink, for at least the next 20 minutes, they see her and think of her song.

This clever device captures exactly the sort of manipulation employed by myriad consumer advertisers, just one method by which they psychologically construct a need for their products. The rest of the play, nicely constructed and engrossing as it is, doesn’t quite match the searing promise of this optical trick.

The play finds two figures, an unnamed boy and girl (Ivan Rodriguez and Dechen Dolkar), confronted with various songs, imagery and poetry. What they hear and see, whether from Shakespeare sonnets or the Ronettes, becomes their vocabulary. And what they want, aside from each other, becomes “Stivale,” an ambiguous product or service advertised on a screen behind them.

Naked, or nearly so, the boy and girl eventually clothe themselves in outfits that descend on hangers from the ceiling. Their repetition of Shakespearean lines — “Till action, lust is perjured” or “Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines” — mingles with songs like “To Know Him Is to Love Him” to create a steady commentary and subtle criticism of media messages enticing us toward blind adherence to brand and product. Writer Dan Shanahan, along with his various collaborators on this project, deserve worlds of credit for probing a seldom-explored issue in this stripped-down, deeply affecting way that eschews narrative and strives for the all-encompassing.

Brennan, whose singing ends the evening with two arias from Verdi’s “La Traviata,” is herself a force to behold and a beautiful set of parentheses to a dark night at the theater.

Theater Review

“Stivale”

★★★

Local writer and conceptualizer Dan Shanahan has again created a complex world of corruption, this time effected through the advertising culture.  Innocent creatures are heaved out of Eden and enculturated by STIVALE, a god-substitute of commercial power.  Desire is manufactured for consumer goods and anything that will keep them young.  This prevents the development of the ability to love and achieve mature values and experiences; they are eventually seared by the fires of Chaos.
       What is STIVALE?  Well, a perfume of course.  But behind that is an unknown force, and only the singing voice of the Muse Euterpe can prevent it’s complete absorption of human contenders.
       This account differs significantly from author Shanahan’s, and perhaps from yours.  First you must view the Spectacle and absorb the Lights and Sounds generated around STIVALE.  Beware, doing so may derange your senses and your understanding of what is imparted to you.
       You may not find it that complex.  Miss Delicious just kept saying “erotic, erotic, don’t touch me now” with her hand hovering near her flushed cheek.  There had been a lot of undressing and suggestive movement, and dappling with the Krupnik.
       Ivan Rodriguez unrobed himself as “boy”, looking like a boxer, he scarcely knew what to fight against.  He picked out phrases from the Shakespearean Sonnets.
       Paired on the opposite side of the stage with him, Dechen Dolkar as “girl” moved with great beauty and sexiness, as she got up off the bed and tried to attract his attention.  I think about this time we heard the guitar sample from Jello Biafra’s “Full Metal Jack Off”.  She also interpreted phrases from the Sonnets, but all attempts the two made were in vain.  They both returned to sleeping poses.
       The Opera singer Kelly Marcellina Brennan beautifully carved the wistfulness of “Ah, Fors e Lui”, and prepared herself for losing love and life in “Addio de Passata”, both awesome sung with a cappella skill and clarity.  Her arm upraised from shadow slowly dropped before the flames.
       There were other scenes before the above, and many more sounds used.  Brian Milbrand (Tim Stegner and Frank Napolski) did the Video design and production, Justin Rowland composed, designed and recorded the sound score.  Jon Harper did the Lighting design, Dan Shanahan was the Writer, Director, and contributed to the stage design.  As did Melissa Meola, who did a long list of things including Costume Design.  Many more people are credited, see the program.
       David Oliver performed the readings of Shakespeare’s Sonnets for the sound track.  Not many were used; perhaps more will be in the later, as STIVALE begins a new cycle for Torn Space.
       Did I mention the Ronnettes?  The return of the Fluorescent Tubes? Hurry!