Review by Alexa Hafner Keelan
The show opened at LiveWorks festival held at CarriageWorks in Sydney. This amazingly abstract piece keeps you on the edge as you are thrown into different worlds and experience the full capacity of the human experience. Get ready to deep dive into the realities of life in a one-of-a-kind performance that allows you to experience deep themes through a lighthearted and fun-loving lens.
If you are looking for something out of this world, this show may be for you. From the moment you enter, you become intrigued with the mystery and tension this show creates. Guests are seated close to the stage and smoke fills the air leaving you in anticipation for the show to start. If you think you can guess what will happen next– let me tell you that you are wrong because it is completely different. The power this story has over the audience while encapsulating themes of grief, family and life, ensuring the audience is invited along the journey. The whole hour was filled with love and humour, with an abstract story told that feels deeply personal and connects everyone together. You will leave feeling a sense of comfort mixed with a layer of abstractness that bewilders your senses and leaves you in deep thought.
Starting from the tension created by the sound effects, utilizing a recurring melody that you will be humming days after the show. To describe the melody would be to describe feelings of sentiment and sadness of the loss of something so familiar. Any feelings of sadness will immediately be dissolved with the laughter or music creating joy. The musical items were amazing switching from a variety of genres that create excitement altering the mood. I felt surrounded by incredible music at every minute that captivated me into a different world– quite literally.
Throughout the show, your senses are intertwined with the bold psychedelic colours to the intriguing costumes and tantalizing sounds. You will feel yourself becoming hypnotized into an alternate reality in combination with themes that are relatable and reminiscent. Nostalgia is created and self-reflection is inevitable when the story reminds you of your own memories. Feelings of closeness and togetherness are highlighted leaving you in a state of warmth. I found it amazing how the abstractness can be wildly full yet the main themes and storyline are never distant but always recurring, keeping the audience grounded.
I really appreciated the incorporation of culture and the ways of connecting to it whether through food, music or just speaking the language. It was amazing to witness the deep connection to culture that the main characters had and their ability to share it with the audience. The audience could feel the strong family connections the characters possessed and the blatant realities of the human experience. Bringing both sadness and beauty to the journey of life while remaining upbeat and keeping the audience laughing.
All performers contributed to the humour and abstract storyline with extraordinary effort conveying themes that entertain the audience to heightened levels. Not to mention the incredible dancers who brightened up the show with their artistic choreography. The dancers kept the mood upbeat and the party on, mesmerizing and dazzling with their vibrant movements. This was in combination with their bright colour eye-catching costumes and psychedelic backdrop of lights leaving the audience amazed.
Image Credit: Lucy Parakhina