Review - Out of Earshot

KAGE Presents – for the Melbourne International Jazz Festival

Out of Earshot

Conceived and Directed by Kate Denborough

Created in collaboration with the cast.

Cast:

Anna Seymour

Elle Evangelista

Gerard Van Dyck

Myele Manzanza

Timothy Ohl

Designers:

Paul Jackson

Stephen Hawker

James Paul

At Chunky Move

11 Sturt Street – Southbank

1 to 10 June 2017 – then off to Adelaide

The remarkable aspect of this performance is that not all the dancers are hearing.

Out of Earshot brings its audience closer to an awareness of how individuals experience sound and vibration and how it may and may not inform movement.

We all have our own unique rhythms - a kind of beat of your own internal drum.  As a hearing person it is fascinating to consider what a Deaf person actually hears or feels or sees with regard to sound and rhythms/pulses.

In this dance performance, that is part of The Melbourne Jazz Festival, sound is introduced as body percussion played by Myele Manzanza on the dancers bodies.  Eventually Manzanza moves to a featured drum kit that he plays at intervals throughout.  The sound is both explosive and at times acutely sensitive. 

Sound is echoed visually in a strip of illumination around the walls of the performance space.  In this way sound cues are audial - literal sound and vibrations.  And cues are also visual - percussive instruments being played, projected images of sound waves and other performers moving.  All performers are positioned to respond to this variety of stimuli. 

Intrinsically Out of Earshot appears to be about relating to others.  It is the non-verbal communication and the intimate dancing relationships that really seem to be at the heart of what activates movement and generates meaning in this work.

Dancers are generally, uniquely completely visible - exposed through their presence in front of an audience.  Their integrity and vulnerability allows them to speak genuinely and sincerely to us.  I think this sense of openness is intensified in with the inclusion of a Deaf dancer.  Anna Seymour who was born profoundly deaf works as an equal collaborator – one of - a quartet of dancers.  Throughout there is an intensity of communication between performers that is possibly a heightened awareness to the importance of visual cues.

Gerard Van Dyck always beguiling to watch delights with his sense of humour, particularly towards the end of the performance.  Timothy Ohl delivers some extraordinarily moves.  I found myself gasping at a number of his rolls.  Elle Evangelista is enchanting to observe.

As creator/director Kate Denborough plays with perceptions of the embodiment of sound.  And although Anna Seymour’s point of difference is a pivotal aspect of the work there is no sense that she is actually any different to any of the other dancers.  In fact if one didn’t know she is Deaf one would be none the wiser. 

A very unique and seminal ensemble piece that we are bound to be talking about for years to come.

Suzanne Sandow

(For Stage Whispers)

Review - Black is the Colour

Deafferent Theatre Presents:

Black is the Colour

By Daniel Keene

Director – Jessica Moody

Catherine – Anna Seymour

Irene – Hilary Fisher

Creative Producer – Jessica Moody

Auslan Master – Sherrie Beaver

Production Manager and Creative Producer – Ilana Charnelle Gelbert

Lighting Design – John Collopy

Sound Design – shannyn,art

Caption Technician – Jessica Murray

Arts House – North Melbourne Town Hall – 24 September – 1 October 2016

This is an awesome first production by Deafferent Theatre.  It is a wonderful opportunity for Deaf

and hearing friends to come together to experience dialogue and interaction in Auslan performed by two expressly engaging and consummate performers.  Their work is crisp and vibrant and clearly supported with captions. 

As a hearing person it just takes a little time to get used to looking above the actors to, as quickly as possible, read the text and then be able to check into the beauty and clarity of the signing.  And it is surprisingly satisfying to engage with a signed work that is partially buoyed with sound (shannyn.art).

Black is the Colour is about a friendship, with at times hazy boundaries, between two women where one is trying, as best she can, to support the other to leave an abusive relationship.

The choice of this sensitive, rich and current text by writer Daniel Keene is a resonant and rewarding one.   It explores the profound difficulties undergone in trying to leave a relationship that is infused with physical, and therefore, emotional and psychological violence.

A hallmark of Keene’s work the courage to look into the dark corners of social alienation and disenfranchisement.  In this instance he explores the experience of psychological instability that can be caused through enduring abuse in a relationship.

Anna Seymour is an experienced dancer, who in this work although not dancing, sensitively and explicitly, lets the audience into the quandary her character Catherine is tussling with.   Hilary Fisher as Irene communicates her characters deep concerns and persistence and also sadly - ultimate disenchantment.

As I watched I started to think how amazing it would be if, at some point, the performers could leap into dance and even just momentarily transcend the need for spoken or signed words.  But maybe that could be a twist in Deafferent’s next project?

Tickets are selling like hotcakes – so book now if you want to catch this show.

Suzanne Sandow

(For Stage Whispers)