Director: Darcy Grant
Performed by: Gravity & Other Myths
Right from the outset of their boundary-pushing acrobatic odyssey, it’s clear that Adelaide circus company Gravity & Other Myths are set on doing things differently and they’re not afraid to be weird. Finding her way from the darkened audience to the stage, wildly swinging a torch around like an usher who’s new on the job, the first member of the group on stage speaks to us candidly as if her mind has sprung a leak and the thoughts are tumbling out. She’s joined by the others one by one, and rather than take turns addressing the audience, they talk over each other until it’s a cacophony of voices, none of which are decipherable. It’s a striking opening to a production that is beguiling in the glimpses it gives into the fizzling inner worlds of its performers as they elicit gasps and cheers from the audience with their spectacular stunts.
The first stunts are only seen obliquely as lights sweep across the stage illuminating the performers running and jumping. Shapes form: an arch of bodies is suddenly there, morphing structures of balanced people flipping and throwing each other, like they’re higher life forms coalescing out of a primordial soup of separate parts. Light and sound bounce around against stuttering music built from pre-verbal humming and percussive sounds of contact.
Tightly choreographed sections like this are intercut with conversational parts that show the nuts and bolts of the production. We hear again the feverish inner monologues of the performers, this time as they are swinging each other around casually but impressively. When a microphone is passed around and focuses on each of them in turn, we hear their humorous, mundane, anxious ramblings about sweaty body parts, particularly tricky manoeuvres, what they’re going to have for dinner or something completely unrelated. It’s a fascinating take on the psychology of the acrobat. And by giving us a peek into their personal worlds, it’s no longer a case of mysterious, perfect athletes performing unbelievable feats; they’re real people just like us with the same jumbled thought processes.
It’s a hugely refreshing, informal approach to acrobatics. Because even though they do joke around and highlight their own limitations, the stunts are still mind-blowing. They effortlessly create towers three people high then dive off into the arms of those below. At one point, one of the performers answers questions from the crowd whilst supporting two people standing on top of each other above her.
The concept of showing the chaos behind the order is a lot of fun. This production goes a long way in furthering an accessible yet experimental form of theatrical circus. There’s a beautiful sense of play to the whole thing that underlines the importance of cultivating our innate primordial creativity, letting it take its own chaotically expressive path. It will be hugely inspiring, especially to the vocally enthusiastic kids in the crowd who are given a pivotal opportunity to experience a form of performance where the rules are broken and anything is possible.
Reviewed on May 11th 2023
