My lovely friend Kyran (or was it Britt? Hard to say these days...) took me along to a play last night... I loved it and now that I'm writing about it, I wonder if it was free can I be as objective as I would be if I paid for the ticket?
Students the world over would agree with me...can I hear a resounding yes?
Questions of bias aside, it was more than just a play actually. It was physical theatre. No dialogue. Yep, I asked the same question when I heard the phrase "physical theatre"... isn't physical theatre with no dialogue just dance? Apparently not.
A play without dialogue? I was in! I love live theatre but I often get dialogue fatigue by the end of wordy plays (Beckett take note), imagine how the actors feel!
3rd year NIDA students and Legs on the Wall have teamed up to make a purely observational piece of theatre, that feels just like people watching for a couple of hours, but really interesting people, with really interesting habits.
It's called The Hour We Knew Nothing of Each Other and it made me realise how many assumptions we make about people and their lives simply from their appearance, movements and idiosyncracies.
Curiously, The Hour We Knew Nothing of Each Other is being staged outside in the square at Customs House at Circular Quay. It is August remember so puffa jackets and ugg boots are highly appropriate attire, I know this because I wore a flimsy cardigan... I was filled with false warmth after a huge feed of dumplings in Chinatown and paid for it by the end of the play.
The outdoor setting really lends itself to the piece. It's often hard to distinguish between regular punters walking towards the train station and the actors. It was easy, however, to tell the difference between the actors and the really fragrant drunk guy sitting behind us heckling the actors. Unfortunately for the actors, he was seated right near one of the clever microphones placed on the ground to accentuate the atmospheric sounds.
Once he left though, the microphones really held their own. It was like being at a live foley recording.
And the acting? Superb. Well played third years, well played. I guess it helps when you don't have any lines to memorise.
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