THEATRE BY FRANK MCKONE
P.Harness at the ANU Refectory, Friday 15 March, Professional.
Mikel Simic (percussion) and Geoff Hinchcliffe (guitar), with Ben O'Loughlin (bass) perform an idiosyncratic, deliberately unsophisticated show which was the attraction of the night. At midnight, delayed an hour by a ring-in band, a largely early twenties crowd swelled in the expectation of the unexpected. If this were Paris 75 years ago, P.Harness would be turning urinals into art works, making the ordinary and banal into something of significance.
Mikel explained to me that when they began 6 years ago, their naif style was indeed naive. Now they face an old artistic problem - how to keep the childlike quality in their work while writing, playing gigs, recording professionally. The reversion to childhood is a major theme which produces a seemingly confused schizoid mix of musical genres, dress-ups and a sort of pantomime. The humour is made from superficiality, and becomes a light-hearted satirical reflection on the pretensions which are so often part of the music scene. In fact, of course, it is the professionalism of their performance - crossing over from heavy rock, country and western, to pop-rock, rap, soul and funk - while acting "themselves" at about the age of 6, pretending to do adult things, which draws the audience in.
This is a Canberra original, odd and interesting, and I will be interested to see if they develop a wider audience over the next few years. I think they deserve it.
[Bias disclosure: I taught Mikel Simic and Geoff Hinchcliffe Drama at Senior Secondary (Years 11/12) Hawker College, Canberra]
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