MARROW ADELAIDE FESTIVAL 24

 

 

 

MARROW

Concept and Direction, Daniel Riley, Choreography Daniel Riley with Australian Dance Theatre’s Company Artists. Project Elder Major ‘Moogy’ Sumner AM. (Kaurna/Ngarrindjeri). Design and Lighting Matthew Adey. Costume Design Ailsa Paterson Sound Design James Howard. Artistic Support Ade Suharto,RachelCoulson.Additional Support Adrianne Semmens, Andrew Searle and Josh Tyler. Performers Sebastian Geilings, Brianna Kell, Zachary Lopez, Karra Nam, Patrick O’Luanaigh and Zoe Wozniak. Production Manager/Puppet Maker. Ninian Donald.  Odeon Theatre. Adlaide Festival 24. March 13-17 2024.

Reviewed by Peter Wilkins  

Australian Dance Theatre’s Adelaide Festival production of Marrow is born of a burning passion. It is a dance work that is both raw and complex. Artistic director Daniel Riley once again brands his work with anger, with grief, with loss and the cry for change. James Howard’s opening sound design pulses
with unrelenting protest, loud and forceful, echoing through the Odeon Theatre as the dancers appear driven by an inner obsession and then, contorted, writhing, ghosts of a past history, spectres of torment and victims of history. Riley’s choreography is uncompromising, compelling in its anguish as a pattern of interactive movements and solo moments express a struggle that is eternal. His dancers move in perfect concord with a theme of spiritual resurgence. The grim vision of a hanging black figure and Karra Nam’s long solo performance to restore life to the wrongs of the past and the perils of the present offers a glimpse of hope for a better future.

 Marrow is a work from the heart of a Wiradjuri man on Kaurna country. Riley, like so many others, but sadly not the majority of people living on aboriginal land in South Australia, suffered the cruel opinion of the opponents to the Voice referendum. His contemporary dancers echo that disappointment in a work that provides no answers but provokes contemplation. Marrow, like the nation is left with the question “Where to now?  In the dancer’s loving embraces the words of Noel Pearson resonate in physical compassion – “Only love can move us now” while the works powerful sound design and Matthew Adey’s evocative lighting, combined with Riley’s choreography and the youthful dance of the performers are all inspired by Stan Grant’s advice to “imagine this country again. Marrow is ADT’s  attempt to recognize the past and imagine that past wrongs can be righted as Nam removed the dangling figure and restored the healing power of love in a smoking ceremony. There may be no answers but there is hope that the past will pass and a better future will emerge.

Marrow is a captivating and challenging work. It is possibly too long and too confined in the Odeon Theatre. I kept imagining it on the landscape upon the rocks, by the water and among the trees. That is where the hope lies – with Nature and connection with country and its people. In a world torn apart by conflict and oppression, Marrow reminds us that love and generosity and compassion are crucial to life. They are the marrow that sustain the blood that flows through our veins. ADT’s beautifully atmospheric work reminds us in its imagery and the expressive character of the dancer’s youthful and electrifying movement that the struggle can be overcome. I was unable to hear a voice-over that was drowned by the sound. An audience is left to interpret at will, but Marrow could have helped to make its message clearer through visual and aural commentary on theme and action. It is a small quibble. Overall Marrow is a sensitive and carefully researched and performed work that only too clearly indicates through dance, music and design the need for the healing power of love and compassion.

It is a message that Riley repeats when he expresses the hope that exists in the young people from a local school who were in the audience. Their lives and their understanding have been enriched by their visit to Marrow and the discussions that will ensue after they leave the theatre.