“L'Entreprise du Risque,” Belco Arts, at Belcone Arts Centre, September 9-11.Reviewed by John Lombard

 

Photo Andrew Sikorski.

L'ENTREPRISE du Risque opens with the four performers enveloped by white hazmat suits. One removes their hood and discovers the air is clean. The others follow their lead, gulping fresh air. Is it safe to breathe again?

Even in Shakespeare's time, pandemic closed the theatres. 

This circus grapples directly with the challenge of staging live performance in the age of COVID-19, with creative producer Sammy Moynihan inviting us to reconsider our relationship with risk.

 

Like 2019’s Cirque Stratosphere, there was a strong focus on aerial acts including hoops, trapeze and ropes. Veteran aerialist Bernard Bru demonstrated his strength by hanging from a crescent moon, while performer Jake Silvestro brought panache to spinning inside a giant ring. Warehouse Circus performers Imogen Drury and Clare Pengryffyn completed the quartet with polished hoop acrobatics.

The routines were serious and precise rather than flamboyant, with the emphasis on awe at the strength and skill of the performers rather than the thrill of their danger. 

By pairing the aerial acts with a voiceover defending risk-taking, the production drew a parallel between the prudent manner in which the performers approached the risk of gravity, and the social distancing measures in place at the theatre to manage the risk of infection.

 

Lighting design by Linda Buck kept the cavernous theatre dark, with spotlights focused on the performers.

This spartan approach created a contemplative and reverent atmosphere.

Running for an hour, this inaugural production by Belco Arts felt like a taster for more ambitious works in the new theatre. 

 

With the future uncertain, this defiant circus asks us to consider what we will risk to be part of live performance again.

 

 

L’entreprise du Risque.  

 Produced by Sammy Moynihan.  Costumes by Olga Dumova. Belconnen Arts Centre Theatre. A Belco Arts Production. Belconnen Arts Centre.  Until September 11. Bookings 02 6173 3300.

Reviewed by Peter Wilkins

There is something exciting about entering a newly built theatre that has been carefully designed to arouse the senses, inspire the curiosity and offer am promise of new experience. It is the feeling I had as I entered the newly built theatre at Belconnen Arts Centre to see the opening production of L’entreprise du Risque. I like others have taken the risk to attend the first production of a circus piece in the new theatre. Belconnen Arts Centre’s inaugural production takes place in a fully equipped Black Box. Flexibility should be a theatre’s most striking feature. Flexible seating allows for flexible staging in the round, thrust, open ended, proscenium or traverse. It is a theatre that can challenge perception, arouse the senses and take audiences on a new and dynamic journey.

At this time of Corona virus, restrictions determine the presentation of a new piece of theatre and audiences at the opening of L’entreprise du Risque were seated i.5 metres apart, drizzled hands with sanitizer at the entrance and wore masks if they chose. Four performers took audiences on a whimsical, and gently unfolding display of circus skills. Four figures emerged from the haze and through the shafts of light that lent the space an air of mystery.  Jake Silvestro slid down a rope from above. Other members of the ensemble, Bernard Bru, Clare Pengryffyn and Imogen Drury  emerged from three corners of the space to join him. Each appeared to be wearing personal protective gear. On the floor they removed the protective head gear and the analogy appeared unmistakable. They were taking the risk to expose themselves to the atmosphere and strive for freedom from the restrictions that bound them.

The world of circus is the arena of risk, testing strength, pushing the boundaries and challenging the skill to succeed. The small company of four took on the challenges with work on the trapeze and the ropes, aerial acts on the equilibrium ladder platform and aerial hoop and  physical daring on the cyr wheel.

L’entreprise du Risque has a distinctly French flavour, not only because of  Bernard Bru’s venerable influence, but also because of the seductive soundtrack and the atmospheric lighting effects.  Silvestro’s introductory soaring on the cloud swing rope and daring floor slides introduce a feeling of exhilaration, of liberation from the confines of space and surface. This escape from the constricts of control is captured in Pengryffyn’s work on the aerial hoop in a display of controlled grace and strength. Here is a promising performer, who is certain to be seen on larger circus stages in the future. Her strength is complemented by Drury’s graceful dance and acrobatic backflips.  Mentor and leader of the troupe, Bernard Bru shows that age should be no barrier to the experienced exponent of the circus arts. His balance and strength on the equilibrium aerial ladder and aerial hoop  though no longer the daredevil bravura of the younger gymnast enchants with a soulful touch of French whimsy in his Man in the Moon act, while Pengryffyn watches on from the floor as a young girl entranced by the vision above her.

What L’entreprise du Risque has in charm and skill, it lacks in tight direction, showmanship and flair. Experience is varied  and the show is a display of uneven expertise, Silvestro is obviously an accomplished circus performer whose talent lends the show a dynamism that is not apparent in the work of the two female performers from local Warehouse Circus. They are accomplished apprentices and committed circus performers but are still learning the trade and developing their skills. I understand that the show was also to include a clown who would have been able to cover the pauses between acts while the company set up the equipment with the stage manager. Drury’s obvious dance and acrobatic skill could have possibly filled in the gaps and maintained both a continuity and the audience’s absorbed enjoyment of the performance.

That said, “L’entreprise du Risque offered an enjoyable and welcome return to live theatre at the Belconnen Art Centre’s beautiful new theatre. I look forward to the forthcoming dance work Mess which will be staged in October and offers yet another innovative entertainment as a part of the Centre’s  adventurous artistic programme.   

 

 

CINECONLINE

 

 

Streaming online edition  

Cinecon Classic Film Festival

From Hollywood, California USA

Thursday 3 September to Saturday 5 September 2020

  

Reviewed by Len Power

 

Now in its 56^th year, the Cinecon Classic Film Festival is normally held every year in Hollywood, California on the USA’s Labour Day long weekend at the end of August/early September.  The screenings of rare and classic films take place at the legendary Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood.  It’s an opportunity to see films that are not generally available to the public.

In addition, surviving movie and television stars often attend and awards are presented.  It’s a great opportunity to have access to some of these famous people of the film world.  I attended two festivals in 2012 and 2013, meeting and chatting at length with, amongst others, Debbie Reynolds, Shirley Jones, Samantha Eggar, Pat Boone, child star of the 1930s Jane Withers, Barbara Hale of ‘Perry Mason’ fame and Baby Peggy from films in the 1920s.

This year, due to the restrictions caused by the Covid-19 virus, the annual event was not able to be held live and has been postponed until 2021. However, the organizers decided to hold a virtual show which they dubbed ‘Cineconline’, a three day ‘live’ streaming online edition of the Festival.  It ran from Thursday, September 3 through Saturday, September 5 and was accessible through Cinecon’s web page.

The three day program had a great mix of sound and silent films and shorts, including some rarely seen specialties, 2 films from archival nitrate material and a Kinecon at Cinecon program that featured television firsts of many stars from TV and film plus a special tribute to the late Carl Reiner.

With the time difference between west coast USA and Canberra, the program started here at 8am and presented over 4 hours of material each day.

The organization and presentation of this online festival by President of Cinecon, Stan Taffel, and his team was excellent.  There were no technical glitches throughout and I saw every item presented over the three days and enjoyed them all.  People interested in cinema history would, of course, get the most out of it, but there was so much there to amuse and enlighten even those unfamiliar with the past in film and television.

 

It was a great opportunity to see the feature film, ‘Without Pity’, a 1948 neo-realist Italian film with a story by a young Federico Fellini.  There was also the 1931 ‘Sherlock Holmes and the Fatal Hour’ with Arthur Wontner as the great detective and ‘Lorraine Of the Lions’, an absorbing and enjoyable ‘Jungle Book’ meets ‘King Kong’ silent drama from 1926.

 

Silent films were accompanied by Cinecon’s musical stalwarts, Jon Mirsalis, Frederick Hodges and Scott Lasky.

There were very funny slapstick short silent films with Andy Clyde, Pearl White, Edward Everett Horton, Billy Bevan and others. 

The treasure trove of other highlights included a delightful 1950s interview with early silent star, Chester Conklin, who started in films as one of Mack Sennett’s Keystone Kops from 1912.  There were also television documentary segments showing scenes of 1940s Hollywood as well as early comedy and singing performances on television variety shows by Sid Caesar, Dick Van Dyke, Carl Reiner and many others.

‘Cineconline’ was a huge success technically and the array of films presented made it an absorbing and very entertaining experience.  Now I’m itching to attend next year’s live Cinecon festival in Hollywood - if we can ever travel again.

Len Power’s reviews are also broadcast on the Artsound FM 92.7 ‘In the Foyer’ program on Mondays and Wednesdays at 3.30pm.

‘Theatre of Power’, a regular podcast on Canberra’s performing arts scene with Len Power, can be heard on Spotify, ITunes and other selected platforms or at https://player.whooshkaa.com/shows/theatre-of-power.

 

 

Water Walks

Photography | Brian Rope

Various Artists | Water Walks
Photo Access Gardens | Until 6 September 2020

and online at http://www.gallery.photoaccess.org.au/water-walks

On the first three Saturdays during August, Water Walks were held as an event in RISE Canberra's festival, the Where You Are Festival, funded by the ACT Government. Two walks were undertaken after and during heavy rains. On the fifth Saturday of August an exhibition of photographs taken during those walks went on display in the gardens at Photo Access and a splendid book of the exhibition went on sale. That must be some kind of record for bringing an exhibition together! Everyone who had endured the inclement weather of the walks was rewarded by a beautifully sunny and warm afternoon.

Water Walks brought participants together to explore, document and share experiences of three creeks. Each group was accompanied by a lead photographer, and a local ecologist, historian or urban planner. They spent four hours exploring, learning about and photographing a waterway. In advance, and as they first walked, they learned about the environment, history and cultural significance. Then, walking back, they created photographic records. Local writer Cameron Muir recorded observations along the way; from which came a delightful “field notes” essay to accompany the virtual exhibition and for inclusion in the book.

Image of a walk in action! - supplied by PhotoAccess

Participants learned that thousands of pieces of evidence of Ngunnawal ways of life and ownership are located along Weston Creek. Nearby reserves support patches of the original grassy woodland and the threatened native bird species. Now it has been re-made, including becoming part of Canberra’s first sewerage treatment works - much of its 5 Km goes underground or through a concrete stormwater drain.

Ngunnawal people named it Girimbombery or Giridombera, this ceremonial pathway guiding visitors from the south to the central corroboree ground on the floodplain that some of us remember - now under Lake Burley Griffin. Where this Jerrabomberra Creek joins the Molonglo, wetlands provide a globally significant habitat for migratory birds. But most of the creek’s reaches remain out of sight in the urban fringes immediately adjacent to them. Widespread clearing has significantly degraded the ecology.

Sullivan’s Creek flows through grassy woodlands, former grazing land, tunnels, drains and constructed wetlands. Aboriginal people experienced extreme environmental changes in this landscape, including the Last Glacial Maximum about 20,000 years ago when freezing temperatures on the catchment’s mountains shattered rocks, some of which tumbled down and lie still on the lower slopes.

​Walk participants listened to natural music, were reminded that water flows into irrigation channels to grow food we purchase, explored a subterranean tunnel’s wet surfaces, and parted wild fennel’s feathery leaves like they were walking among shoulder-high carrot tops. They also created images that show beauty, acknowledge some history of Ngunnawal life, and celebrate practices of care. Their images tell stories of people and water in our city.

The exhibited images are mounted on metal stakes embedded into the ground of the gardens outside the gallery premises and visitors walk amongst them. The stakes can, and no doubt will, be used again for more garden exhibitions in the future.

 

High Tide © Sari Sutton

Whilst many might be described as documentary, other images in the exhibition are very much artworks. I particularly enjoyed two works by Noel Hamey: Life in Stagnant Waters and Valley of Stone.

Life in Stagnant Waters © Noel Hamey

Pond with Poles by Sarah Ryan​ is the best of several delightful reflections. Christine Pearson’s Power of Water and Bob Gardiner’s delightfully titled Early Qbnian Dyathinkesaurus Fossil are both splendid. Latent by Thomas Edmondson is a fine Contemporary image.

Holder Wetlands © Eddie O'Brien

Riverbed © Emily Bull

I commend everyone involved in creating this exhibition and its informative accompanying book.

This review originally published in The Canberra Times of 5/9/20 here.

It has also been published on the author's own blog here.