Sydney Reviews

A neon proscenium framing a radio beat box is the stark, simple and static image that starts The Mirror, a cheeky, boundary-smashing spectacle from the award-winning Australian circus and physical theatre company, Gravity & Other Myths.

Static ceases save for some radio interference as a singer channel surfs the set to find an agreeable tune, finally settling on Summertime from Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess.

The music mash up is sublime, swinging from Sway to Sweet Dreams and a swag of other pop tunes (name a brand band or artist and they’re probably sampled) that segue seamlessly as seemingly static tableaux tumble, with limbs and lumbar suggesting the impossible.

The acrobatics are awesome, all for one, and one for all, excellent exhibitionists. Jascha Boyce, Joren Dawson, Simon McClure, Lachlan Binns, Martin Schreiber, Dylan Phillips, Megan Giesbrecht, Lewis Rankin and Maya Tregonning, agile as gazelles, sure footedly feline and lithely serpentine,  arms and feet presenting spectacular feats. Fluid, flexible and fleet, they present a playful discipline of supple spine, a head for heights, and a bridge of thighs. 

The Mirror reflects a tincture of burlesque, a remnant of the risqué, but nothing offensive. Light sabre follow spot adds a flurovescent texture to the omnidextrous artists  in this undeniably exhilarating entertainment.

These are not depth defying acts, however. Quick and nimble, The Mirror is not shallow as a thimble, casting a narrative net wide, matching the subtle with the supple. The Mirror places a mirror to its audience, physically by way of selfie stick camera, creating a virtual and vicarious theatrical experience.

Co-commissioned by the Sydney Opera House and the Chamäleon Theatre (Germany), The Mirror comes to us fresh from its Berlin world-premiere season. Director Darcy Grant leads the troupe through gravity-defying acrobatic choreography, accompanied by Helpmann award-winning composer Ekrem Eli Phoenix’s electro pop mash-ups.

A kind of techno Lewis Carroll, The Mirror is well worth looking into.