Some time ago I reviewed Leslie Ting’s CD set What Brings You In; noting that it was music “that was composed for performance as part of an art installation or a site specific performance or as therapy rather than a conventional concert hall experience”.  On Sunday I got to hear it as part of Leslie’s show at Theatre Passe Muraille.

The show is a kind of personal biographical introspection dealing with Leslie’s exploration of and struggles with her own sense of identity and what “identity” means in general.  Anecdotes are interspersed with musical performances and, with one teeny change, the music is the same as on the CDs so I won’t repeat what I said about it back when.  The show starts with therapy and Leslie’s relationship with her mother and her desire/need to give up her profession as an optometrist (surely, along with lawyer and pharmacist the classic “second generation” career).

There’s a lot more about Leslie falling in and out of love with the violin and how racial identity plays into the therapy process and more.  She looks at ideas of how the mind works (as a “black box”) or not) and of connectedness but at bottom is the idea that therapy is supposed to cure something that is “wrong” and Leslie’s struggles with that idea.  It’s all delivered in a rather low key, self deprecating and amusing way and audience members can choose to experience it either from their seats or sitting or lying on the stage floor so it has a pretty informal feel.

The alternation of music and narration and the abstract nature of the music means there is loads of time to reflect on what’s being said.  I suspect individual reactions are very varied based on experience (or not) with therapy and familiarity (or not) with the more abstract end of modern classical music.  I found myself drifting offf into my own experience with therapy (one life changing experience and a load of dross) and wondering if Leslie’s wasn’t pretty similar.  At least the dross part.

It’s quite an interesting way to spend 75 minutes.  It runs at Theatre Passe Muraille until October 25th.

Photo: Curtis Perry