The Age I’m In Dance Theatre by Force Majeure directed by Kate Champion. At The Q, Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre April 16-17, 2010.
It’s a great thrill to see work of this quality at The Q. Congratulations to program manager Stephen Pike for including The Age I’m In in his Simply Irresistible 2010 season. This show simply is.
Kate Champion’s Force Majeure won ‘Outstanding Performance by a Company’ for The Age I'm In
at the 2009 Australian Dance Awards, so it’s a special coup for
Queanbeyan. What I found most impressive was the natural way that
diverse elements – pure dance, creative movement, mime, spoken word –
are integrated with the physical space, recorded sound and music,
lighting and finally back projection and portable video screens. Making
a focussed artistic work using all these devices turns what, in
principle is a simple or even ordinary idea – showing the experience of
being different at different ages – into a higher form of art.
The
video screens are the most extraordinary. It was hard to imagine how
the images could appear so precisely in time with the action, while the
effect of the picture on the screen often being an image of the part of
the person who is behind the screen was quite unnerving, though one
could not look away. This is a new way of interpreting the idea of
mask, using sophisticated technology.
Yet it is the
oldest form of expression, bodily movement and dance, which remains the
core of the work, a commentary in action on the words spoken by
Australians in real life interviews, about generational differences,
family relationships, disability, ageing, drugs, sex, money, class, body
image and even rock’n’roll. There is humour, sympathy, empathy and
real concern, but there is also resilience, hope and success.
All
in 90 minutes, through 26 scenes. There is Robyn, a woman played by
both Veronica Neave and Vincent Crowley; a little boy Jack by Byron
Perry and Kirstie McCracken; Tracey by Ingrid Weistfelt; Dan by Josh Mu;
Sam the air guitarist by Samuel Brent; and Grandparents and
Grandaughter Tilly Cobham-Hervey, Brian Harrison and Penny Everingham.
Some performers originally trained in dance, while others as actors, all
working together in ever changing roles and moods.
Kate
Champion has put together a team of great strength behind the scenes:
Geoff Cobham (designer), Roz Hervey (artistic associate), Max Lyandvert
(composer), Bruce McKinven (costume designer), Mark Blackwell (sound
editor), Tony Melov (audiovisual producer), Neil Jensen (audiovisual
designer), and finally William Yang, the photographer whose show My Generation opened the National Portrait Gallery in December 2008.
Unfortunately
you will have missed the Queanbeyan presentation by the time you read
this, and will have to chase the show to Wagga Wagga, Griffith and
Newcastle or to Brisbane’s Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts on
May 4 – 5. I would book now. There should be spare planes to fly there
while the Iceland volcano keeps erupting.
For the full touring schedule, check out http://www.forcemajeure.com.au/Resources/RoadworkPerformanceSchedule.pdf
and
if you are a technical buff, have a look at
http://forcemajeure.com.au/Resources/The Age I'm In - Technical
Specifications Regional.pdf for the touring specifications – just
fascinating.
© Frank McKone, Canberra
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