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Back in 1991, in the American Repertory Theatre production of When We Dead Awaken, Robert Wilson’s musical based on the dour Henrik Ibsen play, there was a moment when the cast, led by Honey Cole, started a cakewalk line while chanting the play’s title over and over again. It was silly, it was delightful, and you had no idea what it meant. After watching Katharina Otto’s documentary about Wilson, you’ll still be in the dark, but you’ll have a better sense of his background (growing up gay in Waco, Texas, with a fundamentalist father) and personality (enigmatic, puckish, tyrannical). His sui generis productions over the past four decades flash by in snippets lasting only long enough to bewilder, and such talking heads as David Byrne and the late Susan Sontag merely confirm the accepted wisdom that the guy’s a genius and has helped shape what is seen as cutting-edge culture. As for Wilson himself, he’s like such other savants as Andy Warhol and David Lynch, cryptic about what it all means.
On the Web
Absolute Wilson's Web site's: http://www.absolutewilson.com/
