Perth International Arts Festival

BETROFFENHEIT
Kidd Pivot and Electric Company Theatre
Heath Ledger Theatre, State Theatre Centre
Friday February 24

MEETING
Antony Hamilton Projects
Studio Underground, State Theatre Centre
Wednesday March 1

The word "Betroffenheit" cannot be directly translated into English, but it refers to the “shock, bewilderment or impact....the state of having been met, stopped, struck or perplexed in the face of a particular event”.

Almost eight years ago, Canadian performer, writer, director Jonathon Young's daughter and her two cousins died in a holiday-cabin fire, despite his efforts to save them. His ensuing grief and mental torment, his “Betroffenheit”, led eventually and painstakingly to the creation of the extraordinary Betroffenheit, a “dance/theatre hybrid” developed by Young and Crystal Pite - written by Young, and sensitively, marvellously choreographed and directed by Pite to a multi-layered original sound score.

First performed in Toronto in 2015, Betroffenheit is a meticulously crafted and staged, intensely honest, penetrating exposition of the state of Young’s fragile mind as he faced horror, despair and a haunting sense of guilt. Featuring Young, together with five superb dancers representing ever-changing aspects of his disordered thoughts, the result is gripping, compelling, exceptional theatre where text and dance are interdependent and shards of unexpected humour slice through the shadows. Young's brave, irrepressible performance is inspirational.

In two parts with a 20-minute interval, the work begins with Young a hunched, broken figure in a bleak, grey-walled room. Black cables on the floor suddenly become snake-like and begin to slither across the stage, one rearing up like a venomous king cobra. Via inanimate objects and lip-synching dancers, Young's recorded voice conveys his internal dialogue of questions, solutions, mantras, platitudes, pain and panic.

One of the group (Jermaine Spivey) becomes a sort of alter ego, dancing and undulating rubber-legged and boneless while mouthing Young's words. A bizarre, nightmarish “showtime” follows, with technicolour images peppering the hallucinations and eye-catching red boxes and blue suits adding to the kaleidoscopic delusion. A red box becomes a detonator as the garishly clad, white-faced dancers are joined by Young wearing an electric-blue suit and a wig, skilfully hoofing and tap-dancing with the best of them in their bowler hats. Propped up and manipulated like a puppet by the others, he sings heartbreakingly, "I know I let you down again". The voice offers a glimmer of hope, "I'm feeling again", as blackness envelops him.

The second half begins in a smoky haze and a long sequence of flowing dance with no voice, suggesting a calmer state of mind. Sudden blackouts interrupt the flow, and Young appears and dances with the others. Fitful movement replaces abandoned running, tumbling and sliding and the voice returns, "the accident has happened" . . . there's no running from it", and with it the understanding that trying to forget what has happened means forgetting those that are gone. Jermaine Spivey, in a final, aching, eloquent solo as the alter-ego figure, conveys all of this without words, as he strives, fights, spins, jumps, reaches and hurts, maimed yet choosing to remember.

Each of Betroffenheit's Perth performances received spontaneous standing ovations. Try to see it if you possibly can.

Meeting, created by Australians Antony Hamilton (choreography and direction) and Alisdair Macindoe (instrumental design and construction, and composition), has toured internationally since its first performance in Melbourne in 2015. PIAF artistic director Wendy Martin's 2017 festival has an especially strong contemporary dance component and Meeting is a unique, interesting, meritorious inclusion.

Incorporating complex and inventive technology, Meeting pairs sound and movement in 55 minutes of absorbing performance. The mesmeric sound/music score is generated by red pencils, which are attached to 64 small, pre-programmed wooden “robots” arranged in a circle on the stage. Tapping the floor at different intervals singly and in sections, the percussive sound of the pencils is augmented by electronic whirring, clicking sounds.

Performed impressively by Hamilton and Macindoe in memorized choreography requiring skill, precision and concentration, the dancers are dressed casually in loose pants, black t-shirts and black runners. Positioned inside the circle, laidback, expressionless and in the zone, they respond to the sounds with slightly mechanical yet graceful movement, body weight subtly rocking back and forth and, as the beat gets faster, integrating distinctive arm positions reflecting changing rhythms.
Pauses to mop their brows and relax their shoulders drew appreciative laughter and applause, as did the faster mime-like gestures and robotic-voiced counting. Crawling languidly out of the circle they move the robots one by one, carefully placing them in an orchestral formation. After adding bells, wooden blocks and metal bars to embellish the musical sound, they exit while the robot 'orchestra’ plays on.

My only quibble is that seeing as well as hearing the action of all of the robots is essential to fully engage with this avant-garde piece, especially in the final section, and not all seats in the theatre enabled this.

- MARGARET MERCER