One Fell Swoop Circus’ Kilter. Image via Facebook.
ONE FELL SWOOP CIRCUS – KILTER
Slackrope walking is a standard circus skill, but in Kilter, the familiar technique is given new life through the incorporation of a unique piece of circus apparatus. A frame of light steel, welded together to form a narrow crescent, stands on the stage, the slackrope tethered between its points. As performers Jonathan Morgan and Charice Rust walk, balance and stretch along the rope, the frame rocks, like a boat on the waves, creating new challenges for these skilled and accomplished artists.
Elsewhere in the performance, Rust and Morgan introduce more traditional circus techniques, such as aerial straps and ropework; at other times they play with oranges and plastic bowls, adding elements of the absurd into this elegant, artful, subdued and skillful production.
Live music by ORCHA, played on violin and keyboard, accompanies the performance, while voiceovers and live projections extrapolate on the physics involved and riff on the myth of Sisyphus – an apt analogy for any circus practitioner, for whom training and repetition is a constant fact of life.
Stark yet beautiful, Kilter demonstrates a keen intelligence at play behind the ropes and rocking apparatus. Transitions between musical interludes are occasionally abrupt, and the AV elements don’t seem entirely integrated into proceedings, but these are minor flaw in an otherwise accomplished, engaging and beautiful circus work.
Four stars: ★★★★
Theatre Works, St Kilda
Season concluded
ELBOW ROOM – THERE
On a small plinth on a darkened stage, two spotlit fingers stretch and flex, before beginning to explore the limits of their world. Another pair of fingers joins the perambulation. Soon they chafe at the limitations of their world; they fling themselves into the void – only to discover the bodies they are attached to.
Now the bodies – actors Angus Grant and Emily Tomlins – begin to explore their own limitations. They gape, gasp, laugh and cry – and they too seek to venture beyond the confines of the stage.
Out into the audience they come – reading the minds of those seated around them, voicing fears of unwanted interactions and a desire to be entertained.
Soon the performance has changed again – leaping from ancient Greek theatre to kitchen sink drama, in which both sink and kitchen are invisible, and roles and rules are contested. There is laughter. There are tears.
First staged in 2008, There is the first ever show from indie company Elbow Room; it is remounted at this year’s Melbourne Fringe in celebration of the company’s 10 year anniversary. Some aspects of its form feel slightly dated, but the work itself – a reflexive theatre production about theatre itself – still delights and charms.
Four stars: ★★★★
Fringe Hub: Lithuanian Club – The Loft
Until 21 September
PINING FOR AFFECTION: A TREE MUSICAL – A MARSHALL AND MARROWS PRODUCTION
Gently satirising some of the tropes of Disney musicals, such as the princess whose sidekick is a talking animal (a possum in this instance – it’s an Australian production after all), Pining for Affection began life as a 15-minute sketch, about a tree (Stephen Amos) who’s tired of always being in the background and who longs for a life of his own.
The tree’s own story is somewhat overshadowed in this expanded production, which premiered at this year’s Melbourne International Comedy Festival and now returns for the Fringe. Possum (Gina Dickson) is having an identity crisis: does she want to be a country singer, or a rapper? Princess Ophelia (Ursula Searle) dreams of becoming a rock star. Meeting the cocksure Prince Richard (Alfred Kouris) offers her a new direction – but at what cost?
Puns and jokes aplenty don’t quite compensate for simplistic plotting, and for a musical, there’s little in the way of emotional range in the songs, but performances are committed and the cast engaging. It may lack polish but Pining for Affection is definitely fun.
Three stars: ★★★
Fringe Hub: Lithuanian Club – The Ballroom
Until 21 September
Melbourne Fringe Festival
www.melbournefringe.com.au
13 – 30 September 2018
