If These Walls Could Talk, Dislocate, Fairfax Studio, Sunday 26th October 2014

If These Walls Could Talk, Dislocate, Fairfax Studio, Sunday 26th October 2014

"If These Walls Could Talk" by Dislocate was presented as a World Premiere season at the Fairfax Studio as part of the Melbourne Festival.

For those new to my blog I write about the holistic experience of attending the theatre.

I had met someone on the previous night who had seen "If These Walls Could Talk"and he warned me with "Good luck with that one."  I was left curious what he meant and was keen to see it for myself.  I have seen some awful shows in my time and thought it best to keep an open mind.

To me theatre can speak in many ways.  When theatre moves the human condition to feel something then I feel it has been successful.  This was theatre that generated strong feelings of empathy and understanding to make my heart sink, glow or soar.

"If These Walls Could Talk" is a show for all ages though it has some adult themes of death and suicide that may not be suitable for young children.  It would be a good talking point with teenagers. It is a very accessible piece of theatre and maybe that is why the man did not like it as it was not "arty" enough.  I loved its simplicity in telling a simple story about a flat/apartment or house with various residents over the years.  It is as if the ghostly residents come to life to tell their story.  This is interspersed with the removalists moving the previous resident out and also an opportunity to change the set.

A very moving piece of theatre that did have a few holes that could be filled.

I was disgusted that someone in the front row had the audacity to take photos during the opening sequence.

The set comprises a round table, a two seater sofa, a window, fireplace mantelpiece and the frame of the building.  The doorway we learn later is a trick doorway that can swing open and closed and also rotate.  There is also a hat stand at the start. A tulle lampshade hangs from above. Along the way the sofa's covers or cushions are changed by the removalists to create a refurnished space for the latest residents.  The painting about the mantelpiece changes according to each resident: a family snap, a fish, a map etc.  Production Design by Michael Baxter would have been completed in consultation with the director, dramaturge and performers due to the working complexity of each aspect of the set.  Michael's designs provide enough of a cut out space for us to fill in the gaps.  From their work-in-progress video on Vimeo it is obvious that this show has grown in depth of content and design.

Kate Fryer and Geoff Dunstan play an old couple.  They enter and try to take off their hat and coat.  There is no coat hook.  Maybe there was once upon a time.  The performers move with a sincere respect of old age.  They want to dance together and negotiate the space in which to do so.

The lights change and the couple transform to their younger selves.  The door way rotates and there is a coat hook.  We too, are not mad. Memory can play tricks on our history.  Perception is their reality.

We see the younger couple dance, flirt and date.  They perform circus antics on the sofa.  There is an aerialist moment using the lampshade.  We then return to the older couple reminiscing and begin a tea ceremony that may be their suicide pact.  This overall opening sequence is tender and poignant.  I think it is powerful and rich in love,  that makes me wonder what the guy last night was thinking.  Maybe it is too obvious what they are doing?  Theatre should be about communicating.

We have the removalists DJ Garner and Luke Taylor who, not only change the setting but also provide some great clowning. Luke Taylor  is so funny with his electric drill routine that he uses to create the sound effects for his robot sequence.  I love his cheeky recognition of the audience.

At times the table, coat rack and sofa are moved.  They are covered with sheets as if from "Great Expectations."  As they are moved closer to the window and fireplace, I expect that they will reveal a performer underneath later.  Not to be.  I loved the way they played with the audience here and what they later did with these props.

We are introduce to a gay couple.  DJ Garner wears a cravat and is very needy of his partner.  They perform a tumbling routine over the table and the sofa.  He is craving affection and recognition.  They also use the cravat in their play.  DJ Garner does everything in his power to impress and keep his boyfriend.  He even dresses Geoff Dunstan with the coat.  Very simple and effective choreography that has smooth transitions.  Their routine means something, it is not just a filler circus act.  They reveal the breakdown and imbalance in their relationship.  They not only tell a story but has a message of relationship communication.  Their relationship is on the rocks.

The removalists can sometimes be two or the four performers.   With a cast of four they change their demeanour and characters so quickly from the other characters they play.  The costumes by Harriet Oxley give a great sense of character, time and relationships.  They look like street clothes but have been adapted for the rigours of these performers and their quick changes.

Kate Fryer lays in the outline of herself.  The spotlight chases her.  It is,  as if the light, is what people say they see when they have had a near death experience.  This white light keeps chasing her.  She flies above as if astral travelling and then recognises what has happened to her.  This is a great aerialist routine where DJ Garner enters.  They perform an aerialist duo.  At one stage he slides under the sofa with great speed.  She keeps trying to escape death.  He leaves and we realise that he she has been visited by death himself.

We have a haunted house routine by the two removalists. We have the black clown Geoff Dunstan and the more frivolous clown played by Luke Taylor .  It is such fun and the ladder gag is a joke on not only us but on each other.  This was such a good slapstick routine that paid homage to "Hold That Ghost" starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in a haunted house.  Both of these fine men have great physical comedy and plasticine faces.

There is a section that could be from "If/Then" the musical or "Sliding Doors" where there are two men  tending to the sick Kate Fryer on the sofa.  DJ Garner wants to chop her up while Geoff Dunstan wants to nurse her to good health.  There is a great sequence with the rug and the butcher's cleaver.  Another with the thermometer and the spoon.  The audience loved the complex nature of the comedy: her oblivion to the events around her, the two men's different motivations and also the men oblivious to each other.  They roll her up in the rug and she is thrown many ways.

DJ Garner is no small fry with his performance.  He is a giant as a dynamic performer with a powerhouse of strength and charisma.  His doorway routine where he drops straight to the floor had the audience gasping.  He is perplexed and confused as he works the doorway and has us in the palm of his hands. This is what good circus does - it engages the audience and creates a response.

Geoff Dunstan and Luke Taylor play with their power tools and have a paint-ball type fight. The power tools pick up sofa covers and the rug.  They create whirl pool like images.  One becomes a bomb.  Great inventive fun.

The final section has Geoff Dunstan desperately trying to do himself in.  It is a great routine with a bottle of pills, the fishbowl, the tie, the window, the light bulb and the electrical cords.  His black comedy clowning is so reminiscent of Marcel Marceau who I have seen on at least five occasions.  He tries to jump out of the window and the window itself becomes another performer.   It is not just one joke with the window but many. They create many physical examples with each prop or piece of scenery that the production designs would have to have been done in consultation with the performers.  The same with the tie and door frame.  The routines do not milk the routine but feed each routine to keep us intrigued and build our empathy towards his plight.

I loved the balance of the darker humour by Geoff Dunstan  with the lighter shades by Luke Taylor.

There are so many circus companies that link their speciality routines together with a theme.  They can be a bit like Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney's famous line "Let's put on a show."  Here we have a stronger thread and the routines support the story.  Some circus troupes do not incorporate an accessible story into their work.  Maybe the guy last night thought it was patronising.  I do not think that. 

I loved "If These Walls Could Talk"  as it is a great piece of artistic work that can create new audiences for the theatre.  There are themes of memory, history, relationships, respect for life, love, suicide and evil intentions.  We have time lapsed cultural references with the various changes to the sofa, costumes and other décor. 

Ghosts of some of the past residents appear.  We conclude with vignettes of previous scenes: the teacup and the thermometer, the old lady, the coat man.  Have they altered his decision? Do they unite in his grief? Do they spiritually guide him?

The final images make my heart soar.  It is raining shreds of a torn notes as the old lady and the coat man fly around him.  The stage is littered with paper that fuels such an uplifting finale.

This production was created with the performers and Daniel Rabin and Alexandra Harrison.  Composition and sound design by Chris Lewis.  Lighting Design by Eduard Ingles.  All worked together for a tight production.

"If These Walls Could Talk" resonated with warmth and was respectful of the vulnerability of the human condition. It made my heart soar that desperate people can seek help in themselves and in others.

Overall I gave this production an 8/10.