Berlyn crashes through fourth wall
PERFORMANCE
Crash Course
Created and performed by James Berlyn
Performing Lines
Perth Institute of Performing Arts
REVIEW DAVID ZAMPATTI
George Soros, the American multi- billionaire financier, the man who "broke the Bank of England", has two rare distinctions. To the fury of Mr Murdoch's media minions, he devotes much of his time and abundant capital to left-wing and progressive causes. He's also one of the thousand or so people in the world who are native Esperanto speakers.
Esperanto, devised by the Polish linguist L.L. Zamenhof in 1887, is only one of many attempts to construct a language; and while the best known - Tolkien's Sindarin and Star Trek's Klingon in particular - are from literature and entertainment, most have the altruistic aim of bringing us together in a common tongue; tearing down the Tower of Babel, if you will.
So here's James Berlyn, and he's constructed a language of his own, Winfein, complete with alphabet and numeral system. It sounds convincing, certainly trips off his tongue smoothly, and, in the hour of Crash Course, he sets about teaching it to us.
The exercise is made more difficult because our writing hand is immobilised in a sling, so we're pretty much back to square one, Winfein-wise.
Despite our imbecility and immobility, our teacher, "Jakebo" (Berlyn), sets about his task with patience, forbearance and skill.
Our good work is rewarded with an encouraging "kweiloo", as Jakebo helps - "tsoopun" - us adapt - "arn-tsunder" - to speaking - "ka-ka" - and writing - "glicken" - in this unfamiliar language.
The stratagems of rote language teaching are employed; reciting the stations of the clock; copying out letters and numbers; learning to ka-ka and glicken our own names.
Before the hour was up, and much to my amazement, I share with my classmates the first, dim sense that understanding, perhaps even mastery of Winfein isn't unattainable. It's an exhilarating feeling, an emotion of logic, like that which great music or dance elicits.
Berlyn delivers all this with skill and magnetism. There are little winks and nudges from the "real" world but his command never drops, you never think he is talking anything but cogent, coherent Winfein.
Crash Course was great fun, it was immensely thought provoking, and, above all, it was very, very kweiloo.
Crash Course runs until November 30.
