Squat Theatre's performance of the avant-garde "Dreamland Burns" was meant to portray city life surrealistically by using fantastic visual effects. Instead it relied too heavily on tricks and recreated the spontaneous storefront atmosphere Squat supposedly left in its old studio on West 23rd Street in Manhattan.

Saturday night's show began with a 36-minute black-and-white film and continued with a live performance. The different levels of perspective in the film and the play created inconsistencies in the characters. The film portrays Alexandra as nervous, upset and aloof in her interaction with a cabdriver and friends while the play creates a more relaxed, silly and almost cheerful girl who no longer fears paranormal advice. The media provided little transition for the sudden change in character.

For instance, the young woman moving into a Manhattan apartment changes physically from a business-like, professionally dressed woman in the film to a girlish holiday party appearance in the play. Another incongruous difference occurs when the young woman sings with a street bum out of desperation and loneliness in the film. Alexandrea encounters him again in the live performance, this time turning to him for advice, consulting him on his simplistic views of life.

The show centers on Alexandra's move and relationship. The film begins as she squats in a business skirt on her boyfriend.

To help her move, Alexandra hires furniture movers who provide surprising insight to the ridiculous city life. Driving past a cemetery with the New York skyline in the background, they were amazed at how many people were crowded into the city while countless dead bodies took up so much space. Hadn't anyone heard of cremation, they wondered with surrealistic ideology.

The christening of the apartment with a party of friends and, surprisingly, her parents, was proclaimed lousy by Alexandra's father, who saw his daughter as being "too afraid to know how to have real fun." The gathering ended abruptly when Alexandra's father, who saw his daughter as being "too afraid to know how to have real fun." The gathering ended abruptly when Alexandra's boyfriend arrived, ordering her to cook him some fish.

When her boyfriend announces his plans to go the Caribbean to work on a fishing boat, Alexandra symbolically prepares the fish. She cut herself and bled while a religious fanatic on the television screeched of lust. She realized that all that kept her in the big city was her job and her new place. The fish was vehemently discarded into the trash.

The film ends as Alex lies in her empty bed, smoking a cigarette.

The stage was afire as the screen lifted as the shadowy figure of a woman undressed in the background. The boyfriend, a plaster figure on which audio and visual images were projected, opened the live action with a monologue.

Musically integrating the background opera music with the voices of two girlfriends, Alexandra and Jehnifer, the audience entered upon an intimate tea table conversation. The informal atmosphere was almost too casual, losing the charm of acting. Eszter Balint, in the role of Alexandra, appeared not to be acting at all but rather, commenting on the day's events.

Jehnifer Von Holstein, in the role of Jehnifer, was humorous in her serious subtleness. She admitted, with a straight, proud face, that the saleswoman who made biblical references in Macy's lingerie department was indeed her mother.

The omniscient cabbie, dreaming of making a movie starring the two girls, magically brings the plot alive with hand motions and acoustical effects. His character loses credibility as his paranormal accuracy is questioned by his "looking for a quick buck" attitude.

The plaster mannequins, an ingenious visual trick at first, came to play a central role in the performance. The surreal acting relied too heavily upon gimmicks, attempting to recreate the lost storefront atmosphere of spontaneity, youth and craziness. The strained timing of the live actors attempting to integrate their dialogue with the recorded voices of the statues became tedious for the viewer.

The bum was also a plaster video-projected statue. A much too long and badly timed conversation took place between him and Alexandra. The statue served no purpose other than a repeated visual gimmick and annoying hurtle for Alexandra's dialogue.

The boyfriend's death in statue form was ingenious, as his plaster back was ripped open with an electric saw to the tune of classical music.

Descending from the ceiling, the divine figure of a neon-haloed Mary reached out a burning hand, the dreamland burning. Here the significance of the transitions became clear as Alexandra's burning cigarette signaled the end of reality and beginning of the rilmed dream.

The surrealistic portrayal of city life was successful in the film only. The play narrowed the entire city to Alexandra's tea table, a neighborhood bar and a drunken bum giving advice on the simple pleasures of life.

The audience is led to conclude, after observing this long evening of simplistic events, that "the best thing in the world is to play beautiful music with Jimi Hendrix and forget the shit."

Defining surrealism, in the play the cabbie said, "It doesn't matter if it's true or not. It just happened."