THE TIME
MACHINE
Founder/Co-ArtisticDirector Elizabeth Streb. Co-Artistic
Director/Director of Corporate Growth &Programs Cassandre Joseph. Chief
Operations Officer Shannon
Reynolds.Technical Director Matt
McAdon. Assistant Technical Director Jelani Lewis. Audio Engineer Paul Piekarz. Co-ArtisticDirector/ActionHero CassandreJoseph. SeniorActionHero JackieCarlson. Action
Hero Nailah Cunningham. ActionHero D’SherrickWilliams.ActionHero Andrea Laisure. Action
Hero Sarah Perez.Action
Hero Kai Rizzuto.Action
Hero Jaylen TaylorAction
Hero Luciany Germán Images Ralph Alswang and Stephanie Berger. Her
Majesty’s Theatre. Adelaide Festival 24.
Reviewed by Peter Wilkins
Streb Extreme Action’s The Time Machine is an homage to the
work of Elizabeth Streb and her groundbreaking invention of Extreme Action
physical theatre. Nine dancers cum gymnastic physical theatre performers
demonstrate the routines invented by Strebs in 1985 and developed during a
career spanning fifty years. Her work ranges from the breathtaking to the
dangerous, pushing the limits of physical risk and endurance. Her dancers combine
the grace of the dance with the strength and prowess of the action
hero. They are young, superbly athletic and highly disciplined as they defy gravity
and push the boundaries of dance. Their work is a carefully choreographed
display of trust, timing and tension.
In an opening sequence on the semicircular
cyr, Streb’s action heroes balance on
the base of the radius while senior
action hero Jackie Carlson moves the large semicircular wheel from side
to side like a mouse in a lab rat wheel.
Above, the dancers balance in a series of gravity defying formations, at
times splaying themselves against the base like .Spiderman as Carlson keeps the
momentum of the large bisected wheel.
Throughout the performance
Streb’s voiceover explains the routine and takes the audience through time as
each new routine is introduced. Crammed
in a small space, a performer’s body becomes a percussion instrument, beating
against the hard surfaces of the space in a rhythmic routine of sound and
movement. In a tribute to the silent movie stars of yesteryear and their
slapstick routines a large pole is swung around as the dancers duck. In memory
of Buster Keaton’s famous deadpan stance as the façade of the house falls on
him, the performers build the suspense as the open window falls upon one
dancer, then another and finally a third. The timing is precise, the
positioning crucial and the audience watches in amazement as the three dancers
emerge unscathed. The entire show is meticulously timed and the routines leave seemingly
bruised bodies in their wake. The cast slam into boards, crash into themselves,
connected by rope, move across the stage on a piece of dowel and finally reach
a climax on the trampoline as they echo Streb’s dream of being born to fly. In
formation they bounce and crash to the mat.
