Reviewed by Frank McKone
January 9
CAST AND CREDITS
A fix+foxy production, produced by: Glynis Henderson Productions & The Pleasance
Writer & Director: Tue Biering
Co-director & Choreographer: Nhlanhla Mahlangu
Featuring:
Mandla Gaduka, Katlego Kaygee Letsholonyana, Lillian Malulyck, Bongani Bennedict Masango, Siyambonga Alfred Mdubeki, Joe Young, Thulani Zwane
Set Designer: Johan Kølkjær; Sound Designer: Ditlev Brinth
Costume Designer: Camilla Lind; Video Designer: Rasmus Kreiner
Lighting Designer: Christoffer Gulløv; Props Designer: Marie Rosendahl Chemnitz
Producer: Annette Max Hansen; Production Managers: Anne Balsma & Thomas Dotzler; Stage Manager: Svante Huniche Corell; Sound Manager & Operator: Filip Vilhelmsson; Assistant Director: Katinka Hurvig Møller; Costume Manager: Clara Bisgaard
Tue Biering, the Danish writer of Dark Noon, writes in his Director’s Note: What I found out was those Western films, as effective entertainment, laid the foundation for some violent narratives that moved off the screen and became part of a reality for many.
Several of the South African performers, in a post-script video, describe the effects on them as children watching Westerns on television or in the cinema – as indeed I remember doing back in the 1950s. One even tells of his part as a teenager in the desecration of the dead body of a rival enemy gang leader.
What they present, in content and in the extraordinary manner in which they present it, is a parody of the history of the American Wild West – how it came about and developed in the 19th Century, and how it ended – but in the best tradition of the genre, it is disturbingly paradoxical.
Should we take the black humour seriously? Does this forthright expounding of the story of the worst results of the poor whites and those who would take advantage of them invading the lands of the native peoples of central and western America, make nearly two hours of theatre consistently engaging?
I have to report that, though I entirely felt the strength of this critique of American culture – especially the fascination with and continuing demand for guns in that country – I did not find myself falling asleep like the gentleman seated next to me did, on and off. I think this happened to him because the humour was not often subtle enough to engage our imaginations enough; and the forthrightness often became theatre being thrown at us, rather than – again more subtly – drawing us in.
On the other hand, I must report that that gentleman’s perhaps defensive response was probably the only one of its kind in the full house. The great theatrical risk was taken on board, including by the audience members who found themselves being physically brought into the action, even though they were faced with being socially examples, perhaps, of the very whites who, according to Tue Biering, are in the catalogue of our collective search for freedom and a better life — and all the horrible things we have done over time to grab it and keep it.
It shows need for us to face up to ourselves, just as Biering found about himself in the process of writing, when it ended up having many more layers and meanings. It was about who told the story and my own blind spots.
From the practical theatre point of view, not only were the character acting, the choreography and performer’s skills in movement, and especially the range and quality of voice work in song and speech quite outstanding, but the complexity of the design of seemingly hundreds of scenes, and the timing of positioning of video cameras and all kinds of structures made the show fascinating to hear and watch just for its own sake.
The team work and timing – sometimes frantically comic, yet often stunning in moments of silence – demonstrated the strength of community in the total team, which becomes an essential message from Dark Noon – that theatre art in itself is a grand measure of human cooperative achievement, in absolute contrast to the killings, the guns, and the misinterpretation of the real Wild West as the romance of freedom.
The show’s historical aspect limits it to the period from the major destruction of the native peoples and the animals such as the bison, their main food source, through the American Civil War, to the recognition of the western areas as states united, by the end of the 1800s. It leaves us watching the political developments in the US today with a sense of horror as violence engulfs that country in massive numbers of mass murders, increasing as the years go by.
Dark Noon should be seen, as it has been since its inception in 2018, in Festivals and theatres around the world. But whether the paradoxical nature of the parody of the ironically named United States’ culture can create change for the better, I unfortunately have my doubts.
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| One moment in the ever-changing Dark Noon fix+foxy, Glynis Henderson Productions & The Pleasance (South Africa and Denmark). Sydney Festival 2025 |
