Cold Blood
\nby Thomas Gunzig.
\nMichele Anne De Mey, Jaco Van Dormael,
\nKiss & Cry Collective.
\nRidley Centre, Adelaide Showgrounds.
\nMarch 5. Duration: 1 hour 15 mins (no interval)<\/p>\n
Mouthpiece
\nby Kieran Hurley
\nTraverse Theatre Company
\nOdeon Theatre.
\nMarch 6. Bookings: adelaidefestival.com.au
\nTickets: $30 – $69. Duration 1 hour 35 minutes (no interval)
\nUntil March 15.<\/p>\n
The Belgian Kiss & Cry Collective, led by choreographer Michele Anne de Mey and filmmaker Jaco Van Dormael have turned Cold Blood<\/em> into a \u201cnano-dance\u201d spectacle. It is forensic, funny, romantic and macabre – and presents aspects of death you usually can\u2019t put your finger on.<\/p>\n Surrounded by cameras, small scale props, miniature cityscapes, and numerous lighting effects, the team of performers, in full view, re-enact seven sudden, untimely, even stupid, deaths and the final moments of consciousness.<\/p>\n An accidental death in a car wash shows the vehicle enveloped in soapy blood \u2013 the image projected by live video feed to the large screen. There are dance routines performed by pairs of fingers, tap dancing in thimbles. The digital choreography is dazzling as are the art deco sets screened in silent screen monochrome. The ungainly human hand is transformed in close up, making twirling palms and nimble fingers inexplicably, often kaleidoscopically, expressive.<\/p>\n The action \u2013 whether a 1940s bombing raid, a Busby Berkeley swimming ballet, or a space rocket launch \u2013 is bathed in evocative music. Operatic arias, Nina Simone, Bowie\u2019s Space Oddity<\/em> \u2013 all combine to make this seemingly effortless theatrical invention a delightful if, sometimes, morbid pleasure.<\/p>\n Mouthpiece<\/em> is a small play with plenty to say and asks timely questions about who gets speak. Scottish playwright Kieran Hurley\u2019s intricately constructed two-hander begins with a chance meeting on the Salisbury Crags above Edinburgh. Libby (Shauna Macdonald) a forty-something struggling writer, is standing on the precipice poised to jump. Declan (Angus Taylor), sixteen and unemployed, steps in and drags her back from the brink.<\/p>\n From there the narratives of the two characters interweave to the point of transference. Recognising Declan\u2019s artistic talent (he gives her a drawing of a giant orb he calls Mouthpiece<\/em>) Libby takes him to the Scottish Museum of Modern Art where he revels in the \u201cbig mad mental mouths\u201d of Francis Bacon paintings.<\/p>\n But the Pygmalion fantasy turns sinister when Libby records his life story. This becomes the basis for a comeback play she also calls Mouthpiece<\/em> \u2013 \u201cspeaking for generation austerity, a voice for the lost and the voiceless.\u201d Declan\u2019s indignant response is clear \u2013 \u201cyou have stolen my life.\u201d<\/p>\n Traverse director, Orla O\u2019Loughlin keeps the tension high and the story and meta-narrative lucid. Kai Fischer\u2019s deft lighting and simple three tiered set work well, as does the projected text.<\/p>\n The actors are excellent. Shauna Macdonald\u2018s Libby is a study of lost purpose and desperate opportunism. As Declan, Angus Taylor memorably captures the anguish of a working class teenager whose eloquence is pre-empted and appropriated. Mouthpiece<\/em> is a festival highlight.<\/p>\n \u201c Morbid pleasures within theatrical invention\u201d The Australian<\/em>, March 10, 2020, p.14.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Cold Blood by Thomas Gunzig. Michele Anne De Mey, Jaco Van Dormael, Kiss & Cry Collective. Ridley Centre, Adelaide Showgrounds. March 5. Duration: 1 hour 15 mins (no interval) Mouthpiece by Kieran Hurley Traverse Theatre Company Odeon Theatre. March 6. Bookings: adelaidefestival.com.au Tickets: $30 – $69. Duration 1 hour 35 minutes (no interval) Until March 15. The Belgian Kiss & Cry Collective, led by choreographer Michele Anne de Mey and filmmaker Jaco Van Dormael have turned Cold Blood into a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,5,11,19,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-40","category-archive","category-festival","category-international","category-theatre"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3142"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3142\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3143,"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3142\/revisions\/3143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}