Theatre Works and
Festival of Live Art Present
UNKNOWN NEIGHBOURS
By Ranters Theatre
and Creative VaQi
Created by
Beth Buchanan Performer
Adriano Cortese Co-Director
Da-Huim Kim Performer
Kyung-Sung Lee Co Director
Deborah
Leiser-Moore Performer
Kyung-Min Na Performer
Soo-Yeon Sung Performer
Theatre Works 12 –
18 March 2018
Site-specific work
can be a bit hit and miss. Unknown
Neighbours is a hit not to be missed! No
seriously - this is a rich and rewarding collaboration between Ranters Theatre and
Creative VaQi from Korea for the FOLA (Festival of Living Art). And the season is only a few days!
As an organic
cultural exchange that was first performed in Seoul, Unknown Neighbours is, and
is destined to be, much more then the sum of its parts. It is a collaboration between Theatre makers
from Eastern and Western communities with differences in language, community
structures, religion and styles of theatre making and an inimitable offering.
On any single
visit each audience member gets to see one main piece of the four or five unique
sight-specific installations, but most significantly, acquires a rich sense of
the connections and rewards of this intercultural collaboration.
On opening night I
went to the house that was occupied by Beth Buchanan and her investigation into,
and expression of, separation. This
intense and affecting work conjures the visceral reality of what, individuals
dissolving relationships can experience.
Eventually, it, very satisfyingly, morphs into a philosophical contemplation
on romantic and lasting relationships, home and aloneness. Ms. Buchanan is beautifully in control of her
material and environment and communicates with her audience with great
integrity.
I can only speak
for this particular experience however - as an indication of the gravitas of
the work on offer any of the individual works would be worth caching. I don’t know how the bookings are decided -
it may just be the luck of the draw – ‘pot luck.’ (Check with Theatre Works on this.)
A brisk walk
follows the engagement with the various housed performance installations, to a
park area where all performers and audience meet amongst locals and general
vibrant everyday goings on. Here the
intended focus seems more general and elicits a sense of community. Our next stop is the wonderful atmospheric
and unsettlingly enhanced environment of the very old Christ Church St Kilda -
next to the once Parish Hall - Theatre Works.
Here idiosyncratically East meets West with an unearthly sense of magic
as Korean bells chime in a traditional church space and we move in an unconventional
way throughout the area.
Finally five
performers share something of their experience of involvement with aspects of
the work and we are taken on a, galvanizing, projected video of the surrounding
suburb and out to the bay.
A unique and very
special adventure that I can’t recommend highly enough.
Suzanne Sandow
(For Stage Whispers)
