It is a well-known maxim among actors that you should never appear with animals or children because they will always upstage you. Elvis de Launay defied that, and many other conventions, in the one-woman show, Mama Dada.
The performance is a sort of hommage to German proto-punk Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven, sometimes known as ‘the Dada Baroness’. Born in Germany in 1874, she was an avant-garde artist and poet who was active on the New York art scene from 1913 to 1923. Her medium was her body and her radical self-displays came to embody Dada. She was openly bisexual, championed the female orgasm and wore men’s clothing in the street. She was considered one of the most controversial and radical women artists of the era, using her body to promote what we would now think of as feminist principles.
It is said she was responsible in some way for Marcel Duchamp’s 1917 revolutionary ready-made Fountain (the urinal signed “Richard Mutt”) although these claims are speculative and unsubstantiated. Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven, unlike Marcel Duchamp, is now largely forgotten and few of her works have survived, but there are several photographs of her. Her provocative poetry was rediscovered and published in Body Sweats: The Uncensored Writings of Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven. The New York Times praised the book as one of the notable art books of 2011.
Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven died in Paris in December 1927 of gas suffocation in what was possibly an act of suicide. She is buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery.
Mama Dada was devised by theatre maker Ludwig Bindervoet, along with Ellen Goemans. Mr Bindervoet who has been obsessed with Dadaism for years, says “I see a link with the despair of the early 20th century and the catastrophic times and feelings of powerlessness of our 21st century. I think that the coincidence of Elsa’s story and work, the mission of Dada and the search for my artistic voice, ensures that this performance can connect the personal, the poetic and the political”.
But what of the performance? The impression was of a petulant child needing to draw attention to herself by virtually any means, whether that be by taking her top off and displaying her naked breasts, rolling round on the floor or screaming at the audience. Now that may well have been Elsa’s act, but if it was, I suspect, she would have brought it off more successfully than Elvis de Launay did. As with Duchamp, it is the originality that is important and an original action or event can only take place once. This show, to me, after the long introduction, sought to recreate, or re-imagine, Elsa’s performances without giving much insight into her character or raison d’être.
After a long monologue to the audience, dressed in a very straight, full-length flowered skirt and simple white blouse, Ms de Launy stripped off and got down to business. The performance itself was a bit disorganised, lacking any true focus or direction and really needed someone with a very strong stage presence. The performance involved some props including a kettle, some talking oven-mit glove puppets and a rubber dildo. There was also a selection of costume bits and pieces, many involving chains – though none of which managed to satisfactorily cover the said breasts.
I must confess to never having heard of Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven so I am very grateful to Ludwig Bindervoet, Ellen Goemans and Elvis de Launay for bringing her to my attention. However, I have to say that this performance left me, and other members of the audience, surreptitiously glancing at their watches after half an hour or so. The dog had seen it all before and slept through most of it – although when it did get up occasionally and reluctantly join in the proceedings it became the focus of attention. Michael Hasted at Theater Rotterdam, 27th March 2025
