Saturday, April 17, 2010

Theatre by Frank McKone: The Age I’m In - Dance Theatre by Force Majeure

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.