At The Diggers North Melbourne Town Hall until October 8,
2000
Show: 8.30pm
Reviewer: Kate Herbert
The Fringe Festival is always riddled with extremes of skill
and quality of performance. Tightrope is one of the more inventive and
satisfying pieces- and you could take the kids to it.
Lara Cruickshank and Padi Bolliger are Krinkl Theatre. The
title of the company captures something of their work. They crinkle, wrap and
sticky-tape newspaper to create images and puppets before our eyes.
Their work with newspaper puppets is inspired by English
designer, Julian Crouch, allows the daily newspaper to be animated in simple
and vivid ways.
The two puppeteers are part of the action. They arrive
through a sea of crumpled newsprint and develop a seductive relationship with
each other as they move to the stage.
They roll and cellotape paper until we see a tightrope
appear before us. A newspaper puppet, trapped in a suitcase, emerges. He is the
tightrope walker. His limbs are ill-formed, his hands are huge fans of paper
and his eyes are lumps of cellotape but he is a living creature to us.
He is animated by his two puppet-masters who are, in turn,
manipulated by his tricks and antics.
It is delightful watching the little paper puppet giggle as
he teases his masters then quake in his paper boots as he is forced to climb
the tightrope ladder.
He develops confidence as he practises his tricks, twirling
an umbrella, doing flips and balances on the tightrope.
Less successful theatrically is Snap, written and directed
by Ross Brisbane. (Not to be confused with Snap at La Mama)
A woman (Melanie Such) is dissatisfied with her career as a
photographer. She snaps pics of children, glamour shots of bored housewives and
even photos of a Turkish family for their tombstones.
When a disturbed man (Kane McDonald) asks her to photograph
"the person I used to be", she finds he has left his evil presence
behind in her studio.
The premise could make a grim, philosophical play but the
show lacks definition in the writing, direction and performances. Scene changes
are interminable, characters are static and there is no emotional substance.
By Kate Herbert
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