Comedy Theatre until March 1996
Reviewed by Kate Herbert on March 5, 1996
Berlin is a stark, often overwhelmingly angst-ridden collage
of choreographic scenes piercing the core of war-time Berlin.
Graham Murphy's latest production for Sydney Dance Company
drags together the threads of brutality and tenderness which epitomise human
behaviour in its most intense moments: moments such as sex and war.
Berlin is blindingly beautiful and poignant, incorporating
so many simple, evocative and unexpected physical images. I loved the unity of
the show which runs 80 minutes without interval. Without being linear or
literal, it integrates a narrative built on characters.
It utilises the characteristics of dance and its intense
physicality and rigour in addition to the richness of a text-free theatricality
and characterisation.
There are the stereotypical Berlin characters: the cabaret
singer, the drag artist, but there are also the street people, the lovers, the
circus performers, the tough child and his father, the waif and her mother.
There is corruption, decadence, loss and confusion. The
people are in pain, they are ragged, degraded, tormented and seduced by soldiers
but somehow, in all this pain, they maintain some dignity which is the only way
to survive.
All this can be done in theatre, in documentary footage on
war-time Berlin but the pure passion and excitement of Murphy's choreography
cannot but make it all the more confronting, desperate and challenging.
The company of dancers has great skill and a rich cultural
and physical diversity which gives breadth to the images.
Musician / Composer, Max Lambert and singer Iva Davies are
inserted into the design amongst the dancers and the detritus of the ravaged
city. Lambert's striking music and Davies songs are well-placed in the context
both physically and emotionally.
The
design by Andrew Carter is powerful and John Rayment's lighting was striking
and often frightening.
Berlin is steeped in imagery and humanity. It is passionate,
intense and speaks clearly with a physical voice. It is truly Dance Theatre.
KATE HERBERT 310 wds
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