Directed by Yaron Lifschitz – Sound Engineered by Daryl Wallis
Lighting and
AV designed by Toby Knyvett – Costume design by Libby McDonnell
Co-production
by Circa and Merrigong Theatre Company
Canberra
Theatre Centre Playhouse 6th to 9th September, 2017
Reviewed by
Bill Stephens
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| Seppe Van Looveren and Timothy Fyffe in "Landscape with Monsters" |
Circa never
ceases to surprise. “Landscapes with
Monsters” sets out to tell the story of post-industrial cities in decay. It was
developed and premiered in Wollongong. The show is performed by an ensemble
cast of seven brilliant athletes, three women and four men, in a bleak setting relieved
only by projected images of belching furnaces. The costumes are industrial, resembling
everyday work clothes. The only props are a collection of multi-sized boxes and
a huge metal ladder.
However, far
from being dull, these remarkably gifted
performers, under the inspired direction of Yaron Lifschitz, transform these
mundane objects into a playground for exploration and delight, responding to the
dictum, “Don’t do anything the hard way. Find an even harder way to do it”.
They crawl
all over each other, hang off slippery boxes by their finger-tips, squeeze their
bodies into impossible positions in alarming situations. Arms, legs and
backsides pop out from the most unlikely places as they cram each other into a
variety of different sized boxes. At one
point, all seven scramble for position all struggling to occupy the top of a
refrigerator sized box. The way they resolve this situation and dismount this
box has to be seen to be believed.
They throw
each other around, balance on each other’s extremities, and do heart-stopping acrobatics
on top of a 20 ft. metal ladder. One particularly alarming moment occurs when
two of the men balance this ladder precariously right out over the audience.
The level of
trust between the performers is extraordinary, and the ingenuity and complexity
of the routines, jaw-dropping. There are hints of relationships and rejection,
all performed with a cheeky, good-humoured ambiguity. No need to wonder what a
girl balancing dangerously on boxes in ballet point shoes has to do with post-industrial
cities, just enjoy the originality of the act.
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| Kathryn O'keefe and Conor Neall in "Landscape with Monsters" |
By the way,
that girl in point shoes is former Canberran, Kathryn O’Keefe. And because
there were no printed programs available for the audience, you might like to
know that her equally hard-working colleagues are Jessica Connell, Tim Fyffe,
Scott Grove, Conor Neall, Seppe Van Looveren and Billie Wilson-Coffey. All of
whom stamped their unique, sunny personalities on another amazing Circa
creation.
Pictures by Vichal Pandey
This review also appears in Australian Arts Review. www.artsreview.com.au
