OzAsia Festival

Oz Asia Review: Dear John

Dedicated to composer John Cage, Artistic Director Fu Hong Zheng’s production of Dear John is unique and creative marriage of multi-disciplines, resulting in a captivating symphony of noise and movement whilst music Composition from Lin Kuei-Ju provides a meditational soundtrack to this visually interesting piece.

UnknownPresented by M.O.V.E Theatre Taiwan

Reviewed Oct 3 2015

Dedicated to composer John Cage, Artistic Director Fu Hong Zheng’s production of Dear John is unique and creative marriage of multi-disciplines, resulting in a captivating symphony of noise and movement whilst music Composition from Lin Kuei-Ju provides a meditational soundtrack to this visually interesting piece.

The first thing evident is the lack of seating; there isn’t any apart from several wooden boxes! An usher quickly informs the audience that they too are part of the performance, to sit where they like and feel free to explore the space during the performance. It is a very bold proposition, but one that works well in this particular setting.

Water drips from a ceiling height container into a glass beaker, which serves as a metronome throughout the show. It opens with a young woman in white (Tung I-Fen), who takes the stage and dons a white lab coat connected to a contraption of strings and pulleys connected to the inner workings of an old piano. Each movement creates a musical note, which is then countered by the protagonist creating a musical duel in the process.

Audience members are used to operate wind chimes and other instruments, creating a symphonic cacophony of sound, light, shadow, water and air in a masterful collaboration lasting around an hour. A DJ (Wang Chung-Kun) operates a computer-assisted creation of wind instruments, using air and water transferred between containers, make high pitched notes that actually synchronise well with the other sounds being created.

The storyline, although not specific, appears to be a duel between the lady in white and the protagonist (Wang Hsiao-Yin), possibly representing a good versus evil scenario. The lady in white occasionally digresses and at one stage plays a game with an audience member involving light bulbs being switched on and off, providing comedy relief and literally lightening the atmosphere.

Nonetheless, it is entertaining, transfixing, and well executed throughout. This use of the Nexus Theatre as a theatre/science hybrid is one of the more obscure offerings at this year’s Oz Asia festival, but definitely a solid inclusion in the program. As someone who lived in Taiwan for a number of years, and who avidly followed the creative scene there, M.O.V.E Theatre are continuing to break boundaries with their experimental approach and we will no doubt see more of them in the future.

Oz Asia finishes tonight (4th October)

Reviewed by Darren Hassan

Rating (out of 5): 5 light bulbs.

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