Adelaide Festival

Festival Review: Foehn

Foehn- the name given to a warm, dry wind that occasionally blows down from the Alps sets the scene for a performance based on the element of wind by French Compagnie Non Nova.

Pure joy!
5

Reviewed at AC Arts on 16 March 2019

Presented by Compagnie Non Nova / Conceived and directed by Phia Ménard

Foehn- the name given to a warm, dry wind that occasionally blows down from the Alps sets the scene for a performance based on the element of wind by French Compagnie Non Nova.

Silvano Nogueria can be seen kneeling in a circle of fans cloaked in a black hooded robe with two pink plastic bags placed in front of him. As the audience fills the seats Nogueria can be seen carefully cutting the bags in to what can be described as a sewing pattern and then carefully takes each piece and, using only sticky tape, constructs his creation. Once complete the lights darken and the theatre is filled with classical music, the sounds of birds and animals set the scene of beauty and tranquillity: not at all something that comes to mind when you think of plastic bags.

As Nogueria walks around the circle turning on fans, the pink bag begins to twist and bend taking on a life of its own and you can hear the joy in the audience as this little person begins to dance to Debussy’s Prélude à l’aprés-midi d’un faun. Nogueria goes on to add more characters and is transformed into the ultimate puppet master. However, there are no strings; instead just the power of wind and the very clever use of an umbrella and a walking stick.

With so many gleeful sounds coming from the audience made up mostly of children it was invigorating to see that a show with no talking and no audience interaction could captivate them so intensely and expose them to the beauty of classical music. It is a testament to the many people who put this show together.

Mr 12 reviewed the show as “One of the best performances I have ever seen. It takes you to the land of imagination where you can explore the many ways you can turn small shopping bags into marvellous people. Silvano Nogueira and the rest of his crew really make this performance quite incredible, and if you are like me it will brighten up your day tremendously. So prepare to be amazed by an outstanding performance with the beautiful sound track by composer Ivan Roussel inspired by Claude Debussy”.

The final scene brings the show to a climatic finish, and as we left the theatre the audience were enthusiastically chatting about the show and how much they had enjoyed it.

Reviewed by Tara Forbes-Godfrey

Venue:  AC Arts, Light Square
Season:  Sun 17 Mar, 11:00am, 2:00pm, 5:00pm
Duration: 40 minutes
Tickets: Standard $49, Friends $42, Conc $39, U30 $25, Child* $20

 

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