By Nicole Itkin
Warm yellow light beckoned us into the Royal Family Performing Arts Space. We walked in and saw thin black lines as backdrop: cacti and desert, making it clear that we were in a cowboy’s land.
Kendal Hartse, writer and performer and Broadway-veteran, walked out to start the show–upbeat, jolly, jaunty. We saw the joy of the cowboy’s day. Then, birds called. She came to a stop. Nighttime. She set up her campsite, cooking with a makeshift fire, and rolled into bed, trying to get comfortable. We saw her struggle and struggle and struggle some more to get comfortable. Gradually, we start to see what is hiding behind the upbeat and the jolly and the jaunty—the loneliness, the repetition, the difficulty sleeping. Slowly, the life of a cowboy and the life of a dancer started to meld together, blend into one.
In one scene, Hartse started dancing, doing a sequence with a huge smile painted on her face. She stopped, in pain. And then she started again, faster, smile on her face. And then, pain. And then again: smile. Pain.
And then, just when the loneliness seems to be about unbearable, as constant as the desert, she comes to a town. Even in town, she seems separated, alone. She drinks. She watches a show. She is back outside. The show asks: When all is said and done, what is one left with? Who is one fighting? Who is one with? The way Hartse and her creative team blend together the two stories, the life of a cowboy and the life of a dancer, is surprising and incredibly fitting.
A physical and immersive story, Cowboy is impeccably well done. I am not a dancer and certainly not a cowboy, but much of the story felt deeply and heartbreakingly relatable.
Grab a ticket to the last show on August 24th if you can! And keep an eye on Harlow Radical for future shows.
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Cowboy. 60 minute runtime at the Royal Family Performing Arts space. Tickets for $28.50 here.
Writer and performer Kendal Hartse. Artistic director Austin Regan. Scenic design by Nora Marlow Smith, lighting design by Victoria Bain, and sound design by Harlow Radical. Ginger Hurley serves as assistant choreographer.
