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Fringe 2005 Reviews (24)
The Hospital
Jo Stromgren Kompani
Aurora Nova@St Stephans
***(*)
After seeing The Department I was eager to have another chance
to see the work of the Jo Stromgren Kompani, but I must say that, in
spite of superb performances from the three actresses and a provocative
opening 30 minutes, the show didn't go where I had expected it would.
This is another of Stromgren's bizarre situations, a secret, isolated
place that is dark and surreal, and exists as much in the mind as anywhere
real. The language is once again gibberish; this time based on an Ur-Icelandic.
Three nurses have remained behind in a dingy and deserted field hospital
after it has been closed due to the departure of the military from a
nearby base. The three have else little to do with their time than beat
themselves and each other up in order to supply wounds for their medical
attention. That and strange dance routines performed with varying measures
of abandon to corny tunes and at seemingly random moments. It's a futile
existence, and the violence would be disturbing if it were not so funny.
That is indeed Stromgren's triumph. It is usually disturbing to find
beautiful young women beating and whipping themselves and each other
(even off stage), but the actresses manage with a series of laconic
poses and facial expressions to make one giggle guiltily, even while
one feels queasy.
The action takes off when a power struggle ensues. The chief nurse,
in charge of the drug cupboard, loses authority along with the key and
humiliation must follow. Samuel Beckett really couldn't have done it
much better. However, it seems as if Stromgren lost a sense of direction
and the women fall back into stereotypes, yearning for absent men.
Jackie Fletcher
The Race
Gecko
Aurora Nova@St Stephen's
*****
The Race is a tour de force, an absolute joy. It is the type
of Dance Theatre that I can confidently recommend to a wide section
of the public because it is character driven, humorous and has a clear
narrative line. Besides that it is full of clever and even cheeky imagery.
The cast of excellent dancers keep up a slick pace that is due in large
measure to a fine ensemble spirit. The sheer force of the energy makes
us twitch in our seats.
The central character is a very likable young man, our Everyman for
the postmodern, enterprise culture. (The type of role that Hugh Grant
would have done so well before he decided that Oscars are won by cads
with a mean streak.) Ambitious, hard-working and amiable, our innocent
lamb is less clued in than we are about what lies in store for him.
Dramatic irony plays a large role in our enjoyment of the humour and
the pathos. And right from the beginning we are introduced to the pith
of the show through a nice little metaphor. Our Everyman is revealed
at the back of the stage dressed in a smart beige linen suit, open-necked
shirt, casual but smart, walking and smiling, waving to acquaintances
as he passes. The fact that he is walking at a smart clip on a treadmill
that is travelling across the stage seems to elude him as he exudes
confident bonhomie, but for us it is the first sign that he is not in
control of his own destiny and is in for a mighty tumble.
This is a performance where Dance Theatre meets Mediaeval Morality
theatre in the 21st century; where bright young men and women scale
the career ladder to dizzy heights, working and playing hard in a world
of fake friendships and phoney values. The music remains ironically
upbeat even when his friends and colleagues show their true colours
and manipulate him like a marionette with metal rods attached to his
ankles and feet. The use of the black curtains at the back to reveal
only sections of scenes at a time heightens our sense of peeping into
the absurdity that is his entire living and working environment. The
approaching birth of his first child instils in him some doubts that
he seeks to dispel through even greater exhibitions of bravado.
While this is an all-round superb piece of work, the integration of
well-chosen popular music carries us along with the mood. Pieces such
as I'll Put a Spell on You add to the irony and, in particular,
the entire cast running frenetically on the spot to Nina Simone's Sinnerman
leaves us breathless and in little doubt as the to moral of the tale.
Be warned! Get off the treadmill, get out of the rat race and buy a
ticket for this pithy and irresistibly charming performance.
Jackie Fletcher
Haci Guigo
Communa Baures & Fare
Aurora Nova@St Stephens
***(*)
Comuna Baires and Fare Anima are both Milan-based and in this collaboration
they have embarked on a project of magnitude: an Epic scale with a big
heart. It is born of a desire, one might say a need, to open a dialogue
with a younger generation, one in danger forgetting some of mankind's
unfortunate flaws and burying some of the atrocities from our recent
past.
Haci Guigo links the crimes against humanity committed by both
sides during World War II, the Holocaust and Hiroshima, and seeks to
give voices to those caught up in the chaos: the dispossessed, the displaced,
those whose lives were destroyed by racial hatred. While it is a fictionalized
version of events, it compounds our dismay with newsreel footage made
in Europe and voiceovers containing shocking sections of speeches and
comments made by American politicians in defense of the Manhattan project.
The two are juxtaposed in an episodic narrative. The performance is
physical and visual and the actors give 110%. It is very good to find
some committed political theatre still alive and kicking in our vapid
mediatized culture with its iconization of the trivial and the rubbish
of reality TV. It is good to find actors who still feel a responsibility
to bear witness to the past for the sake of the future.
This is not a show pushing at the boundaries of theatrical form. It
is quite conventional in that respect, but it is a moving and complex
piece of work created and performed with passion and vigour. It is the
type of show our own late and much lamented John McGrath would have
applauded. Some essential elements of the set are cumbersome to move
and when I saw it I felt it needed to settle and find its pace. It is
well worth a visit for those still committed to engaged theatre.
Jackie Fletcher
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