Presented by Adelaide Duende Collective
Reviewed Saturday 26th November 2011
http://www.bakehousetheatre.com/shows/2011/slicing-and-dicing
Venue: Bakehouse Theatre, Angas Street, Adelaide
Season: 9pm (note the late start) Wed to Sat to 3rd December 2011
Duration: 1hr
Tickets: All tickets $20
Bookings: 8227 0505 or http://www.bakehousetheatre.com/shows/2011/slicing-and-dicing
This production, a surreal black comedy written by Alan Grace, directed by Peter Dunn and choreographed by Ruth Fallon, comes with an 18+ rating and just about every warning that you can imagine, except for the two warnings that most other productions have, smoking and strobe lighting.
You know that things are going to get messy when you see that the entire stage is covered in plastic, with protective coverings for the first four rows of the audience as well. The fetish nun, Lucy (Dee Easton), tied, gagged and strapped to an invertible table, whilst a character named Eli (Eddie Morrison), flanked by two tanned girls in gold bikinis (Laura Brenko and Amy Brooks), referencing the James Bond film, Goldfinger, gives his recipe for vegetarian lasagne as he viciously chops up a red cabbage with a tenon saw, and occasionally threatens the nun, is all a bit of a give-away that this is drawing on Antonin Artaud's concept of Theatre of Cruelty, escaping the 'tyranny of text' and creating its own language, as well as buying into Absurdist concepts.
It seems that we are probably in the studio, watching the making of some futuristic 'reality' television show, in which murder and dismemberment are all an accepted part of the entertainment. On this occasion though, something seems to be going very wrong. Eli and the girls depart and Bridge (Sam Calleja) and Kor (Eliot Howard) enter, seemingly to carry out the slicing and dicing on the nun. They do not, however, carry out the roles for which they are there, questioning what is going on. The attempts of Ben the director (Nic Krieg) to get things back on track go badly wrong for him and the prompter's (Peter Cortissos) attempts to help have little effect.
A cop (Nathan Porteus) bursts in and briefly takes charge, demanding a key that they have found, handing it to the dark man (Alan Grace), and then leaving. The terrifying Jezabel (Sara Lange) takes control and an audience member (Eugene Suleau) requests, and is given permission to do what he wished with the nun. What, you ask, is the dark man up to? His occasional entrances to apply pressure to a participant's shoulder suggests Neuro-Linguistic Programming, which would explain a lot about the behaviour of these people. Then again, it could all be in your own imagination, and maybe my interpretation of all of that has absolutely nothing to do with this play at all. The only certainty is that the live music is provided by Nick Russell and Cameron Sanderson, probably.
There is, however, loads of rather thin blood splattered around as cast members hack at one another with almost every weapon that you can imagine, decapitation, topless women, naked men, martial arts, a golden shower (that poor nun gets it again, now hanging upside down) and, well, yes, it is all a bit like one of Shakespeare's more bloodthirsty tragedies, but without all that dialogue getting in the way of the action. There are also a wealth of strong performances from all of the actors in their respective roles and some great ensemble work in this exceptionally thought-provoking work.
We are lucky in Adelaide that we do get see some new, experimental theatre such as this. Take notice of the 18+ rating and the assorted warnings and, if you are of a sensitive disposition, get a ticket so that you can complain to the papers about it. Duende would love the publicity. On the other hand, if you are interested in modern theatre and exciting new projects, then you probably have your tickets anyway, or have already seen it. If not, then you need to be quick to book, as it is an intimate venue and there are only a few performances.
Reviewed by Barry Lenny, Arts Editor, Glam Adelaide.
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