Juniper Douglas's "In the Garden of Clay" was performed at The Southern Theater on October 14th at 7 pm.
I attended the show, and while watching, my very first thought was, is this improv? This cast inhibited the space with such a unique, honest flare that is was almost hard to be sure whether the show was actually scripted. When reflecting back on this performance, the words that come to mind are trippy, beautiful, and lasting.
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To be honest, I had no idea what I was getting myself into by going to this performance, but I sure am thankful that I did. This show explores the concept of routines and the idea that we can get trapped by the expectations of what our lives are supposed to be (and of course so much more!).
“Why are the skies blue?” Noah, the female lead, (who is essentially running the show) ponders at one point, to what appears to be a consciousness of some kind. This master remarks, “because that is how we painted them,” while gesturing an elongated arm as though miming a rainbow. This moment began the show with such an interesting approach to the concepts of creationism, evolution, or any other belief of how things came to be. I immediately started to wonder if this show would be discussing the beginning of man, or where it would be going from there. To my surprise, this wasn't really the theme, but instead it had more rich themes like reality, the psychological connection to self, parallel universes, trust, and moving forward with life.
The characters lined up and introduced themselves as different parts of the brain and similar concepts. However, to my surprise, “The Mandela Effect” was also a character. The Mandela Effect is a real conceptualized theory in which people question why large populations possess a certain false memory. Many people question whether their memory just wasn’t good from that particular event or time period, or if they perhaps visited a parallel universe and came back with a false memory.
To be honest, I absolutely loved seeing one of my favorite ‘conspiracy theories’ come to life in this script, but I also feel like the average audience member may not have had as memorable of a viewing experience without prior knowledge of this phenomenon. My advice to the performance writers and directors may have been to add a one-liner on the Mandela Effect, just as I did now, to make it more clear for the audience.
I thought the show had beautiful overarching themes exploring what reality is and isn’t, while also pushing for a sci-fi twist with psychological and trippy undertones. The writing was absolutely stunning, yet still so abstract.
A lot of the writing allowed for self-interpretation and reflection, which is great for a diverse audience of different theatrical or non-theatrical backgrounds. The actors proved to be dynamic in every way by enticing, manipulating, caring, and presenting almost every basic human emotion one could hope to see in a show like this.
My favorite moment was one shared between Noah (she/her/hers) and the “Mandela Effect” chorus character. The Mandela Effect character asked Noah if she trusted him, and then later in the show, she asked the same question, almost bookending the show halfway through.
Through simplistic costumes and a raw, bare set the audience was truly able to take this show wherever they wanted, but also able to let the show take them wherever it wanted to. However, seeing "In the Garden of Clay" was not only an incomparable visual experience, but also an auditory journey.
Juniper Douglas, a Minneapolis band managed by Subaquatic Records, featured a variety of instruments in this show, which made for some great undertones that wouldn’t have been possible without their musical segue constantly in the background, and on the forefront. In one memorable moment they used a drill on a guitar during a moving scene.
This entire show was truly unlike anything I've ever seen before. It not only had me on the edge of my seat throughout, but it also left me exploring the questions and concepts that the show prescribed to the audience that night. In such a short performance, there was truly a lasting impact between the actors and the audience. I’m very glad I went to this show, and I highly recommend that everyone sees a Juniper Douglas production at some point by connecting with them on social media and learning about their upcoming performances.
You can explore more of Juniper Douglas on social media Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. You can also dive into their music on Spotify and Soundcloud, and watch their music video here.
Learn more about the Southern Theater and their works at their website.
