Of Lungs And Leaves by Sue Abramson and Mita Ghosal Was Visually Stunning

By RnD Young-Howze
The Young-Howze Theatre Journal
Pittsburgh Fringe, May 2021

We all have lost loved ones. Sometimes we feel a personal connection with them and sometimes we don’t give them a second thought. Other times we find something in the house or hear a familiar song and it feels like they’re right there next to us. It doesn’t have to be a religious thing, just this awareness that there is a presence in the room that seems familiar. That happens to me all of the time. For Artist Sue Abramson and Mita Ghosal it may be equally true. For them it is a vacuum cleaner or the passage of time that keeps them connected to those they’ve lost. Their piece “Of Lungs And Leaves” explores that and other things.

The artistry of “Of Lungs and Leaves” has the thumbprints of great direction in it. There is an atmosphere to every shot and an economy of movement. There was a feeling that I could step into the screen and walk around in this world and engage with the artists. You could almost feel each individual texture. Every time I think of this piece I swear I can feel the leaves in my hand. I swear that I can smell that location. That is great world building by a directorial and artistic mind.

I also have to give a special shout out to the production design of the leaf prints. The best comment I can say is that they feel like they’ve always been there. They project this feel of permanence but also fragility, and frailty. Seeing them stacked all around in the middle of nature was a great contrast. This was especially true against the bright green new growth. It was like seeing birth and death at the same time.

You felt this weird hopeful feeling to the story. Like we’ve broken through to the other side and we’re examining the rubble. It can be hard to tell stories like these. You want to stay far enough away from it so you can tell it clearly. However, that is also a load of crock. These stories are massively personal to the storyteller. We loved them, they forged us. We came through that rubble and dirt and part of us will always have the smell of it. To that end you have to tell these kinds of stories with generosity. You have to be okay with opening that wound up for the audience and not shy away from the hardest parts. This was something that Abramson and Ghosal did very, very well.

 With the amount of theatre and films that we see in a year the best compliment that we can give to Of Lungs and Leaves is that we can still picture it in our minds even this long after. I can still see Ghosal’s frame amongst nature. I can still feel the green of the leaves. I can just remember the bird and nature sounds in the background. That is the richness of this world. However I can still hear the voice of Abramson even now offering up this heartbreaking story to us. The fact that I can keep this all in my head without trying is a testament to the rich textures of this piece.