The
Tower, Malthouse Theatre, April 19 to 29, 2012
Reviewer: Kate
Herbert on Sunday April 22, 2012
Stars: ** 1/2
Dance, trance and
religion played a significant role in the development of drama in both Europe
and Asia. Classical Greek theatre evolved from religious dance and musical rituals
dedicated to Dionysus and many cultures still use trance and dance to celebrate
religious rites.
The story of 400
villagers who inexplicably and spontaneously began dancing in 16th
century Strasbourg certainly has theatrical potential, but this is only
partially fulfilled in The Plague Dances by Four Larks.
The script is
conventional in form and style while the story resembles a biblical parable and
the dialogue attempts to replicate classical language.
When a lone,
frightened girl (Esther Hanneford) arrives in a village that is isolated from
the plague, the priest (Kevin Kiernan-Molloy) accepts her while townspeople
suspect her of carrying the plague.
In fact, she is
afflicted with strange seizures that half the town believes to be a dance
dedicated to St. Vitus, and the rest think is an illness brought on by sin.
The production
suffers from an awkward mix of styles and forms, including original music,
earnest and, portentous language and unimaginative movement sequences.
This is a youthful
cast but some of the strongest moments come from older, experienced actor, Matt
Crosby, whose voice and delivery make the language and style work for him.
The live music and
songs (Mat Diafos-Sweeney) have some interesting moments but lacks originality
and the passion and power of Mediaeval or Renaissance religious music or the
folk music of the period.
It is possible that
having four writers (Diafos-Sweeney, Sebastian Peters-Lazaro, Jesse Rasmussen,
Marcel Dorney) made coherence and consistency difficult. Theatre by committee
is always a challenge but it can be very successful.
By Kate Herbert
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