Creator: Lark
Voice: Emer Heatley
There is an intimacy, and indeed a sense of privilege, in receiving a given theatre performance through the medium of your own personal phone. Having a certain amount of control over when you open the message and where you are situated creates a curious relationship with the piece, a relationship akin to the designated ‘listener’ role assigned by Lark and the protagonist, but also understandably a somewhat disengaged or fragmented response at times. However, particularly in the longer messages, the sensory elements of sound and imagery pull the listener into the grieving mind of the protagonist and her immediate world and capture very effectively the pain of missing a loved one.
The elemental theme of the sea, surging and ebbing, is woven throughout this piece and is key to creating the immersive sound scape which works well. The protagonist’s early response to the breakup of her relationship (itself hugely impacted by a vast expanse of ocean between the lovers’ homes) is a manic one. She is elated by sea swimming, by communal nudity, and unstable dancing on a roof top, and is assuredly “fine, fine, fine”. However, as the piece progresses we hear that she cannot move on from grief, from missing her lover who is gone from her; words, images and background fragment, the mania recedes and we understand that our protagonist has retreated within a world of grief while her life “happens in the other room and I can’t get in”.
Lark have created a multi-layered piece incorporating visual, aural and spoken interactions. While there is lack of dramatic interaction between antagonists, the piece is directed towards us, the listeners, and expects our empathetic response. We witness the protagonist’s response to the loss of love. We see how she relates to the Homeric character of Penelope – as Penelope waits and weaves incessantly for her lover Odysseus to return across the ocean – and wonder if she will ever feel happiness and wholeness again. The sea dominates thematically as reality constricts to a mind adrift in an oceanic underworld of sadness and loss. The listener is left feeling at a loss too, as the piece comes to an end and we must let go.
Runs until 26 Mar 2022
3.5*
Intimate
