Private View.
Directed by
Michelle Ryan. Concept, dramarturge and creative producer Roz Hervey. Assistant
director Daisy Brown. Composer Geoff Crowther. Choreographer and rehearsal
director Larissa McGowan. Rehearsal director Sarah-Jayne Howard. Lighting
designer Matthew Adey. Designer Renate Henschke.Eliza Lovell Intimacy coach
Eliza Lovell. Restless Dance Theatre. Odeon Theatre. Adelaide Festival February
29-March 16
Reviewed by
Peter Wilkins
There is a
feeling of being uplifted by a Restless Dance experience. As I become immersed
in the four stories presented in Restless Dance’s Private View for the 2024 Adelaide Festival, I become acutely aware
of an intimacy with the dancers. Any disability they may have fades into the
universal search for love, for intimacy and companionship. Restless Dance’s
disabled performers, accompanied by chanteuse Carla Lippis and guest dancer
Rowan Rossi draw us into a private world that is instantly recognizable and
deeply personal. It may be the experience of a young person with a disability,
but in this beautifully produced insight into the human heart, Restless Dance’s
cast and creatives guide us from one story to the next and through each
character’s experience to a shared understanding of our humanity.
In Private View audiences are guided on
this journey of revelation by chanteuse extraordinaire, Carla Lippis whose
Siren like voice leads us Avec Amour
to a room where a young man dreams of a date with a girl of his dreams. Michael
Hodyl is captivating in his innocent enthusiasm and hopeful romanticism. It is
the dance of exuberance and beckoning promise. He is left to pen a letter of
love in the hope of a dream come true. The singer moves to the next room where
two women, Jianna Georgiu and Madalene Macera revel in their free spirited
sexuality and youth. Left alone, Georgiu reaches out for answers to the
mysteries of love – Is sex the same as intimacy an audience is asked? How often do you think of sex? What does a testacle look like? “An
avocado seed” an audience member
answers. It is the age of enquiry, curiosity and desire to experience.
In the third
room love’s torment takes hold as guest dancer Bonnie Williams writhes in the
agony of love’s rejection. The pain is palpable as she contorts naked in the
lonely privacy of her room. Lippis stands by helpless to ease the pain before
moving towards the final room where two young people, Charlie Wilkins and Darcy
Carpenter engage in a dance of avoidance, using texting and secret assignation
to avoid the parental interference of Rowan Rossi. Their mischievous dance is
joyful, playful and filled with youth’s willful purpose.
In
celebration of love, Lippis sings her final song of revelation. The final lines of Maybe
I’m a flower echo
Private View’s central theme and love’s
journey through hope, exploration and experience. “Maybe my true love is around the corner Let me open up the door And
explore this brave new world” In celebration of love, the audience is
invited to dance as the tickertape falls from above. Their private view into
the hopes and dreams of the Restless Dance performers is a revelation of our
shared experience, an empathetic and heartwarming understanding of the spirit
of love.
