The Lost and Found Orchestra.
Created and directed by Stomp creator, Luke Cresswell and Master of Spectacle, Nigel Jamieson with community choirs and musicians. Adelaide riverbank and Elder Park. Adelaide Festival. March 3-4. 2018.
Reviewed by Peter Wilkins
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| The Lost and Found Orchestra. Photo: Steve McNicholas |
The sky darkens over Elder Park
on the bank of the Torrens River as Kaurna Elder Auntie Georgina Williams makes
her generous welcome to country Festival artistic directors Neil Armfield and
Rachel Healey pay homage to the artist and invite the large audience stretching
across the park on chairs or blankets or grass to take part in their festival..
An aeroplane crosses the sky on its descent. A large constructed outdoor stage
glows in red light, illuminating a three tiered array of pipes, piano guts,
drums and gathered wind and percussion objects. A solitary musician enters with
a Double Bass case and starts a percussive rhythm. He is joined by others with
cello, bass and violin cases to join in the rhythmic beat o the hands upon the
hard leather. The sound builds, more and more frenetic at every touch of the
hands upon the cases. We are swept up in the sound, explosive in its fierce
rhythms. It is the call of the Lost and Found Orchestra under Stomp creator,
Luke Cresswell.
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| Photo: Steve McNicholas |
Bit by bit the orchestra swells as
the musicians create a symphony of sound with the breathy tones of recycled
hosepipes, the haunting, whistling
sounds of breath on bottles or wet fingers sliding along the glass’s
rim. The percussive beat builds on vast oil drums, and bellows blast the sound
of escaping air. Before the vast throng
of musicians from the UK and hundreds of local performers, Cresswell conducts
his musical extravaganza. Bows sweep along saws, pot plants add to the rhythms,
building the excitement and the ritual as the constant percussive beat inhabit
the body and the spirit.
Under the magical command of
Nigel Jamieson, Australia’s wizard of the spectacle, a performers' parade passes through Elder
Park, past the seated audience and onto the scaffolded stage, shaking plastic
bottles, rustling plastic bags, and
spinning umbrellas hung with chimes. On stage, long wooden poles challenge a
contest of pounding percussion into the floor. Makeshift xylophones echo their
Siren sounds to the sky as hosepipes blow, oil drums resound, and all gives way to the tinkling sound of the docket
dispenser.
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| Photo: Steve McNicholas |
This is no random explosion of
sounds created by a variety of discarded and discovered items. Cresswell and
Jamieson create a wonderland of rhythm and sound. With the skill of a Maestro,
CResswell orchestrates the huge open air event, so that it becomes a symphony,
culminating in a celebration of percussion, wind, strings and keyboard. While
Cresswell plays Maestro, Jamieson plays the Ringmaster and the Lost and Found
Orchestra becomes a dazzling circus of sound. There is even a clown, futilely
attempting to coax sound from an inflated balloon. Musicians and performers
excite the night air with joy and jubilation. It is a triumph of spirit, an
uplifting and exhilarating salute to the
magic of sound, not made with the refinement of convention, but with the daring
experimentation of playful curiosity. It is the sound that we can all recognize
as the joyful spirit of childhood, liberating and full of fun.
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| Photo: Steve McNicholas |
The orchestra reaches its finale
with a flourish of sounds rom the motley collection of objects, while at the
top tier and on the side tiers of scaffolding, hundreds join in the rhythms
with song and the rustling accompaniment of plastic bags. The air vibrates in
a crescendo of sound and in a sweep of his arms, Cresswell turns off the lights.
The crowd come to their feet in rapturous applause. The evening has been a celebration of community, transcending race, class and culture and uniting all in the quirky, entertaining and celebratory sound of the Lost and Found Orchestra. It has been the perfect invitation to all Adelaidians to take part in their festival in their city.