Sydney Reviews

Sending out an SMS
Sending out an SMS
I hope that everyone gets my SMS to say: see Message in a Bottle.

Based on the songs of Sting, Message in a Bottle is not just some juke box musical but a dance extravaganza, the choreography providing a kind of athletic and acrobatic Auslan to the accompanying music and lyrics.

Beginning with four songs of uplift, hope, optimism and love – Desert Rose, If Ever I lose My faith In You, Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic, and Fields of Gold – the narrative swings into darker realm introduced by King of Pain.

Don’t Stand So Close To Me takes on a terrible sinister tone, followed by an equally imposing Every Breath You Take, before Message in A Bottle is turned into a contemporary Jailhouse Rock.

Exodus from strife and the horrors of detention is given respite with the coupling of Shape of My Heart and The Bed Is Too Big Without You as anthem to sexual freedom.

A red light rendition of Roxanne takes on a decidedly Kurt Weill flavour and the show runs to the finish line with a reprise of Fields of Gold.

A Sadler’s Wells & Universal Music UK production, Message in a Bottle is Directed and Choreographed by Kate Prince, marshalling an energetic and emboldened ensemble of dancers who breathtakingly break dance and gracefully guide the riveting narrative 

Production values are a match to the performers with exquisite, evocative lighting and a set that is simply and superbly functional.

Message in a Bottle sends many messages in its presentation – the plight of refugees, the collapse of community, the strength of family, the pain of separation, the indignity of false incarceration.

Inspired by the passionate, evocative and iconic music of Sting and utilising that music and lyrics in powerful and impressive and sometimes surprising ways, Message in a Bottle is a humongous story of loss, fear, survival, hope and love.