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| Jake Silvestro performing "December". |
Directed by
Adam Deusien – Lighting designed by Becky Russell.
Sound design
Brendan Napier.
Canberra
Theatre Centre Playhouse 1st and 2nd April.
Reviewed by Bill Stephens.
This moving
reverie is an extraordinary personal response by Canberra acrobat, Jake
Silvestro, to the 2019/2020 Australian bushfires.
Silvestro’s
acrobatic virtuosity has allowed him to tour constantly with major Australian
physical theatre companies including Circa, Circus Oz as well as internationally
with his own company Poncho Circus as well as Casus and many others.
When the
pandemic struck, International opportunities quickly dried up, and Silvestro,
like many other Australian artists working overseas, returned home and busied
himself working with local companies including Belco Arts, Australian Dance
Party and The Flying Fruit Fly Circus.
Though he was
in Amsterdam when he heard news of the Australian bushfires, Silvestro was so
moved by the plight of the bushfire victims he felt that he needed to find some
way of creating an artistic response to the catastrophe, and “December” is the
result of that yearning.
Utilising an
evocative lighting design by Becky Russell together with a compelling sound
design by Brendan Napier, the work begins in darkness with the sounds of a
roaring bushfire filling the theatre. As the lights slowly fade up they reveal
a lone figure with his back to the audience among the blackened debris of a
burnt out house of which only a brick fireplace remains.
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| Jake Silvestro in "December" |
He’s dressed
in protective clothing and the high-vis jacket he’s holding suggests that he’s
returned from fighting the fire. As the work progresses other clues suggest
that he may have lost his wife and child in the fire.
His grief
and desolation is expressed in a series of virtuosic, superbly executed
tumbling movements. Then, as he begins to sift among the wreckage, he discovers
pieces which suggest that he’s a professional circus performer.
Firstly he
uncovers an undamaged chair which he tests with a series of manoeuvres. However
when he discovers its mate, badly damaged by the fire, his composure leaves
him.
Grief-stricken
he fashions a baby from some burnt fabric. He then transforms the fabric into a
representation of his wife and dances with it. This dance is interrupted by a violent storm.
As the storm clears, a piece of paper flutters to the ground. He carefully
shapes the paper into a paper plane which magically boomerangs back to him,
whenever he throws it. Eventually the stage is filled with paper planes. A sign
of hope?
Magpies
chortle, and he begins to draw plans for a new house. As he draws on the ground,
his plans are duplicated in projections thrown on to a smoky screen above him.
He drags burnt clothes from a dressing table, and uncovers some hula hoops
which he playfully and brilliantly manipulates in a joyful highpoint.
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| Jake Silvestro on Cyr wheel during "December" |
Uncovering
another piece of circus apparatus, a broken cyr wheel, he repairs it and proceeds
to perform a virtuosic routine to the song “Am I Ever Going to See Your Face
Again”.
These are just
a few of the many affecting moments to be discovered, and although there is no
specific storyline, Silvestro draws on his strong charismatic presence, his graceful
movement style and acrobatic brilliance to hold his audience transfixed as
alone on the stage for the full 55 minute duration of the performance he
creates a dramatic arc symbolising recognisable experiences with which his
audience can easily empathise.
“December” is
a unique and powerful work which will linger long in the memories of audiences
lucky enough to experience it.
