The Tempest

Company: Zen Zen Zo Physical Theatre
Venue: Old Museum Building, Bowen Hills, Brisbane
Dates: To 11 July 2009

Storm front's comin'

Zen Zen Zo wowed everyone on opening night with its genius performance of William Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Powerful music, brilliant dance, and stellar singing were the standouts of the night.

Masterminds behind the production, Lynne Bradley and Simon Woods, surpassed all my expectations of physical theatre with this epic and interactive adaptation of Shakespeare’s classic.

After a few drinks in the buzzing atmosphere of the Old Museum on opening night, we were guided into the concert hall by flamboyantly, but scantily, dressed creatures. Among the surroundings were extravagantly decorated assemblies of characters, which we took our time to study before the show begun.

An announcer explained the style of promenade theatre, which allows the audience to move around freely to view the action taking place in the large space. It was something I hadn’t experienced before, and at times sitting on the floor or standing was uncomfortable, but it worked.

The show opened with the beautifully talented voice of Emma Dean, who sang while playing the piano and fierce dance by the Ariel chorus and others. Dean’s performance was strong and vibrant; it was obvious she is a consummate professional.

The music, composed by Emma Dean and Colin Webber, was an experience in itself. The volume and energy it created was a commanding element of the show. It contributed a large part to the characters’ expressions, adding to the humour in comedy scenes, and intensity to the dramatic ferocity of the darker arrangements.

Dale Thorburn as Caliban was hauntingly animated. His movement was intense and his performance absorbing; visually and vocally he morphed wholly into this character. Caliban and his chorus were the most dynamic and physical performers of the show.

The roles for all the cast would have been mentally and physically draining, but not once did this show in their performances.

The song performed by Jill Geurts who played Miranda, and Alex Mikic who played Ferdinand was outstanding. Their gorgeous voices resonated (with the help of a mic!) across the hall and their harmony was delightful.

I’m not sure who was who among the jester assembly, but as a team they were hilarious and full of life.

The Ariel chorus was fantastic dancers, and thorough in their consistent sensual movements across the space.

Bryan Nason as Prospero was a powerful central character who complimented Emma Dean as Ariel.

Lighting design by Jason Glenwright was tricky and subtly complex. Quite the creation, it succeeded brilliantly. He cleverly worked with shadows, and used the entire space of the hall to its full potential.

Costume and make-up design were imperative in creating the impact of this production. Angela White and Natalie Bak had clearly spent a lot of time and effort to portray the extremely contrasting elements of the characters. Bold and unusual were the running themes. The make-up and outfits gave the actors a great disguise and heightened their ability to let go of themselves and become immersed by their characters.

Set design by Drew der Kinderen, Lynne Bradley, and Luke Kerridge was effective and mood setting. I caught a glimpse of the set when the lights came on later after the show, and it was only then I realised the intricacy of the decoration detail and its enormity.

The one problem was I felt detached from the action during the finale, as we were instructed to sit quite far from the performance. The space suddenly opened up, looking too exposed because the action wasn’t filling the area we were focused on, and we weren’t up close and personal like we had been for the entire production beforehand.

This show is certainly distinctive from anything I have seen before and I recommend it as an experience for every theatre-goer.

Eric Scott

To read more of Eric Scott's theatre reviews, check out Absolute Theatre.

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