Reviews

From New Art Examiner, Feb. 1989, by Raphael Ardeo

Coming off a dimly lit street in the East Village, one entered an unknown and unmarked narrow storefront space adapted to accommodate, for a few weeks, a very carefully crafted and thoughtfully presented performance. Merry Conway and Noni Pratt developed the material for In The Eye of the Beholder over a period of two and a half years and their performance was a model of care. Conway and Pratt's work seemed a call to origins, a reminder that the fullest expression in art can sometimes be found within the careful borders of a miniature painting. The work, styled as "a solo performance for two people", was mainly an enactment by Conway of 14 different characters (distinguished by changes in costume, gesture, intonation, etc.) who emerged in an evolution of identity. Pratt, present on the stage through out, amid a cluster of objects in the foreground, served as an active stage manager projecting films now and again test, such as a selection of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, changing the sound score and, toward the end, turning to face the audience to sing a medley of childhood bug sons, such as "Itsy Bitsy Spider". Later Conway, again as a girl, fell to the floor, in a kind of keening gesture, saying "I want to go to the dark world. Take me home." This honoring of the dark side and of the wisdom which our own unconscious might inform us of, emerged as the controlling voice in this pleasing and thoughtful piece.