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Eavesdropping on conversations in trains and trams is one of my all-time favourite pastimes. I’ve even been known to lean in rather obviously so I can hear better, I love it so much. Random snippets of conversations are often the catalyst for story ideas and poetic meanderings. Does this mean I’d like to sit and listen to indiscriminate scraps of dialogue for an hour in an uncomfortable chair? Not really.

In The Dictionary of Imaginary Places I experienced the frustration of spending almost the entire production searching for a narrative in a show where you’re clearly meant to come up with your own. Lazy theatergoer, or unsuccessful theatre production? A bit of both I’d wager, although, listening (as I’m want to do) to post-show conversations going on around me, I realised I wasn’t alone in my frustrations.

Every word spoken in The Dictionary of Imaginary Places is from direct transcriptions of conversations that took place on trains between January 2008 and July 2009. Unlike the book by Alberto Manguel of the same name (a record of fantasy locations from world literature), the only alterations are names and places.

There is much about this production that sounds promising, the collaboration of acclaimed director Anna Tregloan (BLACK, Skin Flick) and sound designer David Franzke for one. While the sound design is good, particularly in the challengingly cavernous space at The Arts House Meat Market in North Melbourne, it’s hardly cutting edge and much of the fast-paced dialogue occurring at the back of the theater is lost.

The space is underutilized and, in fact, seems all wrong for this production. The surrealist nature of the show would be better suited to the cast falling over themselves in a tighter space, more reminiscent of the narrowness of an actual train.

The acting is the show’s saving grace. The cast of four (Heather Bolton, Christopher Brown, Rita Kalnejais and James Wardlaw) are exceptional. Kalnejais in particular shines, as she executes nasally gen-Y caricatures of smirk-inducing accuracy with the utmost gravitas, offering lines like “I’m mature enough now not to clash with myself”. Through the actors, a collage of the everyday becomes a festival of the bizarre, from inverted yoga positions to masks made out of polystyrofoam cups. The whole production is very Dada inspired: placing unconnected fragments of text alongside each other in chaotic jumbles of sounds and meaning.

There are moments of joy to be had in The Dictionary of Imaginary Places, gems of comedy and insight that bubble up randomly from the dialogue: “I always take my footy to the footy, just in case they need another one.” The realisation of the production as a whole, however, is ultimately flat and unappealing.


Melbourne International Arts Festival and Arts House present
Store Room Theatre
The Dictionary of Imaginary Places
Created by Anna Tregloan

Venue: Arts House Meat Market | 5 Blackwood Street, North Melbourne
Dates: October 15 - 18
Bookings: www.easytix.com.au