MDLSX

Lights. Music. Cameras. Dancing. Philosophy. Nudity. Karaoke – and a touch of autobiography…?

All this (and more) will await the viewer of MDLSX – and you’d better be feeling adventurous, since this solo performance by Silvia Calderoni (plus assistance from a great deal of technology, including that which translates the Italian language she speaks throughout) is one wild ride: visually, aurally, and emotionally. Confronting and challenging, passionately taking on important themes yet never devolving into either a stuffy lecture or a self-righteous screed, this is 90 minutes of art that you’re not likely to forget in a hurry.

The story presented in MDLSX – a journey of evolution, discovery, and growth, by someone grappling with non-gender-conformity - feels extremely personal to Calderoni, without it being a literal account of her life. She conducts herself at times with the intensity of someone undergoing a kind of exorcism, but also maintains a loose, unburdened, exuberant style of performance, enabling her to carry an audience along even into intimidating areas where they may never have ventured before…

The title is an acknowledgment of the debt owed to Jeffrey Eugenides’ prize-winning novel Middlesex, but the less one knows of this, the more one is likely to be amazed by - and absorbed in – this remarkable performance. Solo shows can run the risk of feeling self-indulgent (particularly once they reach a certain length), but MDLSX just manages to avoid this, through its detailed display of empathy, the excitement of its visual/sonic textures, and the intellectual/emotional layers that get us hooked early and keep us there until the end (with only the occasional lull).

Talking Heads, REM, The Smiths, Placebo, Vampire Weekend, and Yeah Yeah Yeahs are some of the better-known alternative-rock acts to feature on the glorious soundtrack (Calderoni is in high demand as a DJ) - but in some cases, not quite as you will ever have heard them. Those with an aversion to sonic dissonance are hereby forewarned of moments when your eardrums will get a true test of their resilience, in scenes that may have you tempted to close your eyes and block your ears…

Happily, unlike much experimental performance art, MDLSX justifies almost every aspect of itself, in all the ways that matter. It is a truly impactful dramatization that illuminates a crucial component of the human condition. All those with an open mind, looking to fill it up: don’t miss this!

Anthony Vawser

Photographer: Tony Lewis