Big Dance Theater’s “17C” may be based on a man’s diary from 350 years ago, but the performance aims to highlight just how many correlations our current society has with life in the 17th century.
When the company decided to analyze the diaries of 17th-century Englishman Samuel Pepys, the task of relating a world full of male dominance and the prominent use of chamber pots to modern times lent itself to two years of breaking down Pepys’ diary entries.
Elizabeth DeMent, who plays Pepys' wife, Bess, in the production, said that it's Big Dance's take on deconstructing the diary, which includes many elements such as dance, poetry, music and video.
“In this case, it is the diary of Pepys and that really serves as a jumping-off point to then tell a broader truth,” DeMent said.
In order to convey that broader truth to their audience, executive director of Big Dance Theater Aaron Mattocks discusses the mediums in which "17C" and other BDT productions utilize.
“I think what makes Big Dance Theater unique is the adaptation of unexpected literary sources through the lens of choreography and experimental theater, but primarily I think through a view of dance,” Mattocks said.
Annie-B Parson, choreographer and co-director of Big Dance Theater and "17C," expands upon the idea of how modern perceptions of social media shares common identity-based motives with Pepys’ diary entries.
“He was sort of at the beginning of the commercialization of leisure and the creation of the self in public — the public self," Parson said. "And that’s just obviously like Instagram and Facebook and everything. We decide how we want to be seen. And we have multiple identities on these social media platforms, where we craft different identities.”
DeMent notes that "17C," not unlike many other Big Dance Theater productions, follows a non-narrative perspective of the diaries of Pepys. She noted that audiences are not usually as accustomed to stories that break more traditional plotlines.
