Every year I run a workshop at Melbourne Uni for the student theatre called “Everyone’s a Critic” to encourage people to talk more about theatre. Ostensibly, it’s about learning the basics of review writing for the student paper, but it encompasses how all of us are reviewing things all the time. Whether it’s Google reviews or Yelp or rating films on Letterboxd, or sharing immediate thoughts via all sorts of social media, we’re all a kind of critic. We all feel things about the art we see and we want to tell people about them.
I talk
about theatre in particular, of course, but when I’m running exercises – think about
a flaw in something you love, I open it up to films and television, too. We
bring everything we are to all the art we encounter. Whether it’s live art or
sculpture or painting or a narrative podcast. We know what we like, even if we
don’t quite know how to express it.
This is all
to say, I haven’t seen a lot of dance in my life but I know when it thrills me.
Over the years, I’ve seen work by Chunky Move and Lucy Guerin Inc. and Bangarra
Theatre. I only saw The Nutcracker ballet for the first time two
Christmases ago. I always appreciate when dance and movement are infused into a
piece of theatre, too. Finding ways to express emotion through movement is one
of the best parts of live performance.
VISTA, a world premiere from
choreographer Stephanie Lake, tackles how we all see theatre and dance differently.
Lake knows that everyone in the audience will take different things away from
her work and delivers two different takes on the same show, either side of the
interval.
In the
opening act, dressed in monochrome outfits designed by local clothes designers,
Alpha60, the ensemble delivers vignettes which centre on chain reactions. First,
they are clustered, like people crammed on a peak hour train, and then one
starts to gesticulate wildly and soon everything is a whirl of movement.
Moments of
casual connection, indicated with subtle hand gestures and nods of the head,
spiral outward, affecting each person on stage. Sometimes the ensemble will be
cast aside by a performer taking control of the space. Other times, a handful
of dancers will turn against a lone performer in a spotlight.
For a show
about perception, there does seem to be a subtle thread of violence, too. As if
we are witness to acts of aggression or bullying. These moments are bracing,
sometimes shocking, undercutting the gentle fluidity of many sequences that depict
mundane routine.
The second act doesn’t recreate the choreography of the first act exactly but gives us touchstones and shows us certain routines from different angles. Now the costumes are bright colours, with a bold background projection that could be crumpled up paper or a wall of rocks.
Robin Fox’s
simple, staccato soundscape of the first act gives way to a more driving percussiveness
in act two. And the dancers add to the aural mix the occasional clap or murmur or
indistinct chattering. Bosco Shaw’s lighting evolves from bright whites to
surprises of colour and shocking red washes.
Watching
such precise choreography was thrilling and allowing the show to wash over me, rather than get so hung up with pinpointing exactly what each
moment was depicting, was its own kind of unexpected release. Like looking at an
abstract painting or non-naturalistic live art, the experience becomes the
thing.
By the end,
I was mesmerised, transported into a colour whirl of movement, working in
perfect cohesion with Bosco Shaw’s transformative lighting design and Robin Fox’s
soundscape that slowly buries itself in your ear and in your head.
VISTA reminded me of how moving dance can
be and the challenge of the audience to reconsider what they were seeing across
two perfectly crafted acts was exhilarating. It’s a masterful work that makes
me want to see more dance. And maybe, after a few more shows, I’ll be able to
articulate my passion for it more clearly.
- Keith Gow, Theatre First
VISTA is playing at the Malthouse Theatre until Aug 1, after which it tours to Carriageworks and Brisbane Powerhouse
Photos: Pippa Samaya
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