Driven to distraction
Lynn Freeman
Distraction Camp, directed by Peter Falkenberg, Bats Theatre, reviewed by Lynn Freeman
ON the day of the Christchurch earthquake, this visiting Christchurch Free Theatre company was the epitome of the saying ‘the show must go on’.
The players were all affected to some degree by what had happened and added a brief but valid reference to the earthquake. The cast was highly charged rather than distracted in the presentation of this play about how people seek distractions from their mundane lives and even from imminent danger.
Free theatre’s work is a million miles from the traditional New Zealand theatre fare of narrator-driven scripts. They have taken Jean Genet’s The Balcony as a starting point and turned it into something related – but ‘other’. The tango is at the core of this elegantly beautiful work, in part reflecting the way people have flocked to get dancing lessons after shows like ‘Dancing with the Stars’. Life is an intricate dance. The tango motif also speaks of human relationships; one moment close and intimate, the next you can find yourselves flung away or you pull away into the arms of another. You can be close to someone then very alone.
Certainly this play is permeated with characters that lack social skills and seek escape in dressing up as powerful figures – bishops, judges, SAS, and tormenting the weak to boost their own flagging self-esteem. Their fantasies are playing out in a bordello, albeit an expensive and classy one. It is a comment also on actors which is how they see the women there - “even when they’re taking something off they’re putting something on”.
Distraction Camp starts with a long, slow ritual of the dancers cleaning the stage and it quickly becomes mesmerising as they move and breathe. This is a disarming production. It’s a tough 90 minutes, dwelling as it does on relationships and morality, punishment and resilience. The cast is brilliant, the production meticulously acted and choreographed and, in an inspired ending, the audience has to make a choice.
ON the day of the Christchurch earthquake, this visiting Christchurch Free Theatre company was the epitome of the saying ‘the show must go on’.
The players were all affected to some degree by what had happened and added a brief but valid reference to the earthquake. The cast was highly charged rather than distracted in the presentation of this play about how people seek distractions from their mundane lives and even from imminent danger.
Free theatre’s work is a million miles from the traditional New Zealand theatre fare of narrator-driven scripts. They have taken Jean Genet’s The Balcony as a starting point and turned it into something related – but ‘other’. The tango is at the core of this elegantly beautiful work, in part reflecting the way people have flocked to get dancing lessons after shows like ‘Dancing with the Stars’. Life is an intricate dance. The tango motif also speaks of human relationships; one moment close and intimate, the next you can find yourselves flung away or you pull away into the arms of another. You can be close to someone then very alone.
Certainly this play is permeated with characters that lack social skills and seek escape in dressing up as powerful figures – bishops, judges, SAS, and tormenting the weak to boost their own flagging self-esteem. Their fantasies are playing out in a bordello, albeit an expensive and classy one. It is a comment also on actors which is how they see the women there - “even when they’re taking something off they’re putting something on”.
Distraction Camp starts with a long, slow ritual of the dancers cleaning the stage and it quickly becomes mesmerising as they move and breathe. This is a disarming production. It’s a tough 90 minutes, dwelling as it does on relationships and morality, punishment and resilience. The cast is brilliant, the production meticulously acted and choreographed and, in an inspired ending, the audience has to make a choice.
Have Your Say
0 Comments
No comments.