Criticulous' Spring Break

Kristina Nitsolova
Dig It!

When is a performance not a performance. For Nitslova, it is when it goes beyond the simple mechanics of a play or improvisation and actually acts on the world. In this charming site specific show, Nitslova literally ploughs the earth and scatters the good seed on the land. Her audience of young people are enthralled by her soft enthusiasm and fascinating explanations of how they, too, are part of the environment that she cares about so deeply. For connoisseurs of performance, she amazes by her dual ability to farm and act at the same time.

Throughout the production, Nitslova talks directly to the audience and tends the earth: when she walks away, and invites the crowd to follow, she leads them to a remarkable vista that supports her repeated assertions about the beauty of the planet. Her recurrent musings on how the individual is not so separate, that the social connections we might echo the natural connections of an ecosystem are pointed and trenchant. her message may be revolutionary, but it tempered by her mild manner.

Nitslova’s tour of Dig It! is, thankfully, going global: with only a small capacity, each show is tailored to the group. For a show that insists on such hard physical work from the performer, and has an immediate impact on the very ground that hosts it, Dig It! is beautifully conceived and charmingly executed.