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Review: Spectator

Author: Moira de Swardt, 5 October 2006

This is a series of collages linked by the common theme "spectator",focusing on the visual. Working with a thesaurus, a deaf language translator, and the imaginations of sixteen "collaborators", Gerard Bester, physical theatre director, has been exploring various facets humans play out as spectator, voyeur, viewer, watcher, observer, onlooker, bystander, outsider, and eyewitness to various things.

The set, designed by Tessa Rosenthal, Nina Feldman, Roger Lambert and Taryn Kantor, with the generous support of Gearhouse SA, is magnificent. It is a large structure, filling the stage, complete with sports stands below the stage area moving into the orchestra pit area. It sets up nine different focal areas and there are often collages being played out in more than one of these simultaneously. The lighting design by Melanie Hobbs complements this beautifully. It's bold and impressive.

Original music combined with classic tracks such as " The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" sung by Roberta Flack, and "It's a Man's Man's Man's World" sung by James Brown, has been created by Matthew Klawansky and Driving Knives at Cyan Studios. A complete playlist is included in the programme, but it is not ordered correctly. The choice of music encompasses several genres, including the pretty "Waltz of the Flowers" from "The Nutcracker" by Tchaikovsky, the startlingly modern Philip Glass piece "Company" and "What a Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong.

The performers are Nina Feldman, Naomi van Niekerk, Megan Reeks,Gina Cooperman, Asher Stoltz, Adam Hirschmann, Alfred Kunutsor, Nadeem Fredricks, Levinia Jones, Paul Gray, Alex-Ann Keppie, Roberto Pombo, Claudine Ullman, Anneke Villet, Zakhele Mhlongo and Khutjo Mmola. I was particularly impressed with the work of Megan Reeks, a classically trained dancer, who moves beautifully and creates very clear images of what she wants us to see.

After a while the series of "collages" became a series of "technical exercises" in drama and interest came and went in waves. The exercises were brilliantly executed, but ultimately they were more for the benefit of the performer than the audience. I landed up amusing myself by trying to pick out the various actors from other productions, Claudine Ullman, Roberto Pombo, Adam Hirschmann and Asher Stolz from "The Crucible", wondering if Anneke Villet and Johlene Villet were sisters, cousins or not related at all, curious about where I have seen Megan Reeks before, etc. At this point I mention that the audience itself was not noticeably inattentive or restless, so it may just have been me who was slightly bored in places.

This is a clever idea, and the standard of acting is very high indeed, so the production is worth seeing simply because of its innovative concept, magnificent set and beautifully executed collages.