EDGING - Theatre Review

WHAT: Edging
WHEN: 27 Nov - 1 Dec 2024
WHERE: Arts House (The Warehouse)
CREATED & PERFORMED BY: Sammaneh Pourshafighi and Eden Falk
DIRECTED BY: Lara Thoms
DESIGNED BY: Kate Baxter (KB) and Lara Thoms
LIGHTING BY: Jenny Hector
SOUND BY: Tilman Robinson
VIDEO BY: d duan

Sammaneh Pourshafighi and Eden Falk - photo by Gregory Lorenzutti

Aphids is something of an institution these days, and they have been doing the thing they do under the artistic leadership of Lara Thoms and Mish Grigor since 2019. They have been incredibly prolific and developed what is absolutely a signature look, feel, and interrogation of ideas which is immediately recognisable. One of the newest inclusions to their repertoire is Edging which opened at Arts House this week.

One of the signature elements of Aphids productions is they gather people who are interesting and build shows around those people and their experiences and social impact. One of the truly great examples of that was their show A Singular Phenomenon which predates this leadership team, but Thoms was a co-creator and in this iconic event lies the seeds of Thoms' creative process absolutely. You can see the distinctive elements coming through in the repeating repertoire including shows such as The Director and Exit Strategies for example.

Edging is technically co-created by Sammaneh Pourshafighi and Eden Falk but Thoms' direction comes through clearly. I find myself wondering how two such diverse artists came together to create this show and I suspect Thoms is the answer. Pourshafighi is a cross form artist, a 42 year old, gender fluid Iranian refugee who was once interrogated by Border Security for hours (an entire night), which must have been terrifying and exhausting. Falk is an actor who, for three years, did the voice overs for the TV show Border Security International.

Across 70 minutes Pourshafighi gets to work out her trauma by interrogating Falk as the proxy white cis-male institutional patriarchy. Initially it is just Falk in the space with a suitcase a conveyor belt and a double row of video monitors arrayed high upstage. Pourshafighi's voice (Big Brother style) commands him to start the conveyor belt and inspect items from the suitcase. They are innocuous including thongs, a bag of dirty underwear, a roll of toilet paper. Along the way Pourshafighi tells us a bit about themself and their experience under interrogation. Sneakily the theme music from the TV show Border Security becomes evident and we learn about Falk's connection to the themes of the show. There is even a super cute dog who joins us for a while to play the iconic sniffer dog in the TV show. Awwww.

Pourshafighi and Falk are always themselves although the entire show shifts around them role-playing, and their stories are interspersed with games played with the audience. Along the way issues of exclusion, authority, and domination are explored. Power is the question of the show. Who holds the power on stage and in the story telling? Whose stage is it? What power does the audience have even in participation moments. Who will win the greco-roman wrestling? Who holds the keys to doors - border control, entry to Berghain? 

The show starts slowly although the Big Brother idea is quick off the mark. Unfortunately, the introduction lingers too long in Pourshafighi's self-deprecation about her 'funny' voice which creates a weird dissonance of this being the voice of power. Perhaps that is the point. I don't know because I don't think their voice is odd. There was also this commentary about 'Daddy Australia' which didn't resonate with me at all because I have never heard anyone refer to Australia as daddy. I may be being too literal here and this is probably a synonym for the patriarchy and BDSM, but I can't see it catching on. 

Once Pourshafighi is on stage with Falk and the Border Security stuff starts to be explored Edging become really strong, but I feel like this is mostly a result of Falk's incredible skills as an actor. The show comes to be about him and his experiences and regretted complicity in the Australian Governments extreme border policies when offshore detention became entrenched in our nasty and cruel refugee response. I wanted it to be more about Pourshafighi and I wanted some honesty and vulnerability from them.

There is powerful stuff in this show and I really wanted to be allowed to sit in it and feel the horror of being denied your 'gayness' because you don't know who Bette Midler is or anything about Greco-Roman wrestling. Who in Australian DOES know anything about Greco-Roman wrestling for goodness' sake? I wanted to process the lengths the government went to in order to produce film content only aired in other countries to deter them from considering Australia as a refugee destination. I wanted to absord the idea that content was created without credits to ensure the privacy of (protect?) the people who made the work. Who ever heard of a film without credits? 

Unfortunately, the ideas get side-tracked with the game playing. A memory game is played with a diorama of the Berghain club in Berlin. You had to answer questions about this tiny diorama in order to enter but it was impossible to see the tiny details so we couldn't win. The metaphor would have been stronger if I (or my plus one) had known anything about the Berghain. The concept holds but I think the reference is too obscure if this is meant to resonate with a broader audience. 

The show also has a pace problem. It is constructed in segments. I think they are meant to represent wrestling bouts because the performers seem to always pause and reset before beginning the next section. They are kind of the black outs you have if you are telling yourself, you are not having a black out show. 

My issue is not the construct per se, but it makes it all so slow and measured and it is too easy to tune out, especially if you aren't following all the threads being laid out. By the end of the show my plus 1 was completely tuned out and I was struggling to care anymore. What I did love, though was the self-interrogation towards the end, which is one of the signature features of Aphids shows. Good questions are asked of the performers about their complicity and performative self-interests. The kind of questions which are always implicit in all art.

This brings me a full circle back to the Aphid's signature. Aphids work is always billed as experimental, but I wonder if, after all these years, and with what is now quite clearly a creative formula, you can actually use that word legitimately? If you consider that the set for Edging is almost identical to the set for The Director, and they generally favour a white box set anyway, and the self-interrogative element dates back through works such as Exit Strategy for example, and their oeuvre is to bring apparently disparate characters together who share an experience in an unexpected way, what experimentation is actual taking place anymore? 

This is not to say that Edging isn't important or powerful. It is more of a question about when does the new and different just become the ordinary and mainstream? I also want to flag the danger of what was once fresh and exciting becoming staid and rote if you are not constantly alert and genuinely self-interrogating - not just being performative about it. Having said that, Aphids audiences love what Aphids do so from a sustainability point of view I can't deny a winning formula. This is definitely a theatrical style very much supported in Melbourne at this point is history and that is to be celebrated.

I don't deny Edging did not blow me or my plus one away, but it was intriguing and insightful in places, and fun along the way. Also, a lot of the audience come out saying they loved everything about it so go ahead and give it a try. It might just be the best thing you see this year.

3.5 Stars

HIDDEN TUNES - Musical Theatre Review

WHAT: Hidden Tunes
WHEN: 22 - 24 November 2024 (also 29 November 2024 at Library at The Dock)
WHERE: La Mama (The Motley Bauhaus)
COMPOSED BY: Jun Bin Lee
BOOK & LYRICS BY: Jun Bin Lee and Yu Zhi

DIRECTED & CHOREOGRAPHED BY: Sarah Yu
DESIGN BY: Zena Wang
PERFORMED BY: Angel Xiao, Yujia Du, Jiawen Feng, Lansy Feng, Jun Bin Lee, Bingyao Liu, and Yuyang Peng
STAGE MANAGED BY: Jared Jin and Kexin Wang

Yujia Du and Angel Xiao - photo supplied

Tucked away in the tiny, but excellent theatre space at The Motley Bauhaus, a new musical was brought into the world. Presented by La Mama as part of their Festival of Mother Tongues, Hidden Tunes is a Mando-pop musical which packs a real punch. The great news is that even though the main season is already over, there is an extra performance on 29 November at Library at The Dock so I would snatch up tickets while you can!

Hidden Tunes was created by Small Ripples Theatre and this is their second production. Small Ripples creates new musicals for the Asian diaspora although I have to say Hidden Tunes is an extremely universal topic and treatment! It is performed in Mandarin but there are English surtitles, so you don't lose a single beat as this powerful tale of abuse, friendship, social media, and moral dilemmas fills the space. Accompanying the singers are the glorious sounds of the traditional yangqin (played by Bingyao Liu) and the acoustic guitar (played by composer Jun Bin Lee).

Hidden Tunes begins with all the joy and anticipation you can imagine exuding from an entourage of young students beginning their academic career at a prestige music conservatory. They dream big dreams and, yes, there is some rivalry and the newest wunderkind (A Jia played by Yujia Du) enters the fray. There is some low key excluding and gossip amongst the ensemble (performed by Angel Xiao, Yuyan Peng, and Jiawen Feng), but eventually the protagonists - A Jia and Xiao Qian (Lansy Feng) - become friends and start working together. 

Xiao Qian is also receiving extra tutoring from one of the greatest musicians and lecturer. One day she has to visit him late at night at his home rather than in his office and she is assaulted. A Jia sees her emerge clearly distraught. A Jia has guessed what has happened but decides to 'stay out of it'. Xiao Qian's studies and ambitions fall away in a tragic breakdown as she still has to continue classes with the lecturer. Her friends don't understand what is happening and the on-line trolling starts. (My favourite scene is the chorus playing the Netizens!). In the meantime, A Jia is pushed further and further into the quandary on what to do.

What is brilliant about Hidden Tunes is the depth of understanding in the story telling. This is not just someone's rote telling of a story we have all heard about before. The truths which lie in Xiao Qian's tortured collapse, in A Jia's reluctance to get involved, and even in the chorus's work in their various support roles, are delicate and nuanced. Hidden Tunes isn't about the victim or the perpetrator. Hidden Tunes is about the bystanders. It doesn't proselytise about what people should do, but it is a roadmap on what to look for when someone's behaviour changes dramatically and what NOT to do.

Sarah Yu (director and choreographer) has done an excellent job of keeping the blocking and the dance work simple and clean. The space is small, and it allows the performers to focus on their character work and also their singing. Most of the cast are quite young and still developing their vocal strength so this is smart and avoids the risk of pitchiness. 

Hidden Tunes is a gem of a show in concept, construction, and execution. I think the ending could use some fleshing out. I would have liked to see what A Jia does after the big moment of revelation. The surtitles could also use a bit of help to find a lyricism to match the beautiful sounds of the Mandarin lyrics and tempo but that would happen in the next stage of development I presume. 

All of the performances are fantastic. Lansy Feng's collapse is painful to watch, Yujia Du's performance builds the pressure perfectly, and Angel Xiao is a breath of lightness as she steps out of the chorus to play the third friend in the circle.

Musically, the two live musicians work well playing the traditional acoustic instruments. The rest of the music - including electronic music - is played back through the PA and blends excellently. I will say sometimes the volume was a touch loud for the young singers but I also have to confess I was sitting right next to a loudspeaker.

I know Hidden Tunes sounds like it is a niche show for a Mandarin speaking audience, but it really isn't. This is one of the best new musicals this year in my opinion and it would be a shame if you missed it because you think you won't understand it or will feel disenfranchised because of the language. Hidden Tunes really is sooooooo good. 

4 Stars

PS: Extra information and support material is handed out after the show. After all this story is a true one for too many young people in some form or another...

CLIFFHANGER - Dance Review

WHAT: Cliffhanger
WHEN: 13-17 November 2024
WHERE: Arts House (Warehouse)
CREATED BY: Holly Childs and Angela Goh
PERFORMED BY: Angela Goh
COMPOSED BY: Gediminas Žygus
COSTUME BY: Verity Mackey

Angela Goh - photo by Gregory Lorenzutti 

Cliffhanger is the latest new work offering presented at Arts House. Performed in the Warehouse, this show is advertised as being an examination of the 'Sisyphean task of climbing beyond the interface layer of reality'. Combining stream of consciousness style text with contemporary physical movement/dance, the show addresses doom scrolling, attention competition, and fruitless endeavour.

Holly Childs is a writer whose practice lies in fiction, poetry and text for art projects. Angela Goh is a contemporary dance artist. The two have been working collaboratively since 2015. Cliffhanger has apparently been in development since 2019 and I think there is still a lot of COVID angst underlying the work despite the amount of time which has passed. 

I say that because despite the driving idea of the show being the tension of the classic cliffhanger mechanism to build suspense and drama, this show seems to be mired to deeply in the suspension phase, so we never get to feel the catalytic energy which makes the release of falling off the cliff so powerful. Goh bases her movements in a slow dramaturgy which doesn't help this. There is only one real moment where this works as a 'cliffhanger' which is when she suddenly rolls along the floor into the wall and then is suspended in the glare of headlights. For the rest of the time, we are (quite literally in one section) perpetually pushing the rock up the hill yet never reaching the top.

In some respects, I feel as if Childs and Goh have created two different works of art and then just brought them together. There is little to no consistency in what they address in their artforms beyond the loosest of themes. Childs has created a random thought generator which moves a bit backwards and forwards in time but doesn't really address anything discussed in blurb such as doom scrolling or algorithms or the weaponisation of information. To be honest though, I think I enjoyed her components the most because they were non-literal. Goh's dissociated performance of the text was excellent too and did speak to a societal disconnect which is linked to spending too much time in front of our computers.

This becomes echoed in Goh's performance and hits home strongly towards the end when she is transformed into a cat quietly waiting for us all to notice it. As abstracted as Child's text is, Goh's choreography is far too literal. Rocks (which move from the floor to the wall) are held as a mouse and a finger scrolls as if doom scrolling. Goh's eyes flick between an array of imagined screens vying for her attention. There is a plank against the wall on which Goh engages in a never-ending climb just like Sisyphus. Luckily for us it does eventually end... Also luckily for us, Gediminas Žygus' composition is fabulous, and the music brings fun and life to the show.

I am going to admit at this point I do not favour slow dramaturgies as a performative style. Whilst I think they are engaging for creatives to explore, I don't think they are engaging for audiences to watch. Within the context of a performance there needs to be consideration of how the act of attention and awareness and redundancy work in the human brain. Slow dramaturgy can be a powerful element of a performance, but it has to be used wisely and in a broader context in the story telling.

I think the ideas underlying this show are great and the music is wonderful! The show would be stronger if technological elements were integrated and I could see how this could develop with lighting and video elements explored and enmeshed (assuming they do actually want to create the show they have advertised). 

I do think what is already present in the performance could be much stronger though. The rocks on the white Tarkett immediately reference a climbing wall although they are not spaced quite right. Instead of transferring the rocks to a wall to be a more literal representation, they could be repositioned on the stage during the performance and then Goh could actually interact with them as a referential climbing wall in situ. They don't become functional on the real wall anyway so that just feels like filling in time. 

This is the problem with slow dramaturgies too. I always find myself asking whether this is actually trying to say something or is it just filling in time to create a 'full length' show. As soon as I start to wonder about that you have lost me. This is what I mean by incorporating how the brain works with regard to attention.

I guess in the end what I am saying is that there are the seeds of something fascinating here, but this feels like a creative development, not a fully realised performance. Childs and Goh need to work with a dramaturg or director to corral the ideas into a meaningful and satisfying experience for the audience. 

The production elements which are there are all very beautiful and precise. The costume is beautiful although I don't think it really speaks to the work. Verity Mackey has made a very nice outfit though. Even though there is no lighting designer credited, for the most part the lighting is quite good too.

2.5 Stars