In a cafe, up a
flight of stairs, in a dimly-lit cramped room with couches, cushions
and fairy lights, ‘two girls, some dodgy props and some dancing’
(according to the preview) happens.
As the audience
arrives, the set looks interesting, the anticipation builds and a woman
walks slowly, deliberately across the stage. The first show on the
double bill is called We Could Live Here. I don’t know why.
Infantile talk
and behaviour, apple peeling, apple cutting, tea drinking, toy playing,
floor sweeping and tap dancing; there seemed to be no coherency or
natural order to the events which occurred. There was certainly no
clear plot to speak of. Not that theatre needs a plot, but there seemed
to be nothing for the audience to grab hold of, nothing to demonstrate
purpose or premise.
What was the piece actually about?
I could guess. I
could suggest it was about women feeling like they need men? Women
wanting men? Women suppressing their wants or needs? People needing
people? People wanting people who exist in their mind or on TV or film,
like Fred Astaire or Ginger Rogers? It could have been all of these
things. Or none of them. Was it relevant, provocative, amusing or
mildly entertaining? To be honest, I’m not sure.
The piece was an
expression of some kind, many thoughts condensed into a performance
occasionally visually interesting with a superb sound track. Perhaps I
wasn’t the target market, but I felt excluded, like the audience was
being told a private joke I didn’t get.
“If you can’t dance with a man like that, better to dance alone”,
the last line (excuse me if it’s not word perfect), and the two women
find some kind of inner personal strength or strength from being with
each other. Perhaps that’s what the show was about? And then it ended.
Given
a brief interval, I would have stayed, but being told it would be a 45
minute break until the second half of the double bill, which advertised
itself in the programme as being a ‘work in progress’, I was not
enticed to endure another underdeveloped esoteric piece of performance
art.
The
piece does make one question: what is art, what is its purpose and what
is its value? How do expectations affect the experience of witnessing a
performance? I certainly expected to think about something, feel
something or witness something I hadn’t seen or thought of before.
Perhaps having any expectations is unfair and a more open-minded
approach would have provided a more satisfying experience.
Two Little Spiels: A Double Bill
Venue: Cafe Coco Dates: 1 - 11 Oct 2008
Times:We Could Live Here at 7.30pm
A Preamble at 9.00pm Excluding 5th, 6th, 7th
Tickets: Preview $08.00, Conc $10.00, Full $12.00, Other $20.00
Bookings: Festival Tix: 03 9660 9666 or www.melbournefringe.com.au
I don't know how you couldn't get the plot behind this piece.
It is a story about a character called Mabel, played by both performers simultaneously; one as an elderly Mabel, one as a child Mabel. This was clearly denoted by the identical costuming. The younger Mabel is full of hope as she make believes life as a 'grown up' , the older Mabel wistfully remembers her past.
The tap dance enacted by the performers references the Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire film played on the black and white television.
Mabel is waiting for a man to come into her life. She gives up and goes travelling (the projection sequence), but ultimately ends up alone and reflecting on what could have been.
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In a cafe, up a
flight of stairs, in a dimly-lit cramped room with couches, cushions
and fairy lights, ‘two girls, some dodgy props and some dancing’
(according to the preview) happens.
