Adelaide Festival. Stone/Castro. Adelaide College of the Arts. 4 Mar 2014
Jo Stone and Paulo Castro, of Europe, have chosen the 2014 Adelaide Festival for the world premiere of Blackout. Interestingly, a favourable review by dB Magazine was already published in the Festival Program and on Stone/Castro's website, so go figure.
Imagine you are attending the world's worst wedding on a private cruise. And then things go bad. All the embarrassing miscues, doubts and uneasy couplings. The guests - self-absorbed and narcissistic - tediously rant, all terribly wounded by the past and inflicting their angst on the others. Even the waitress gets in on the act with a psychotic tale.
While part of the dance program, Blackout has an equal or even dominant narrative contribution in counterpart with the modern dance elements. The dance reflects very much the unresolved unhappiness amply evident in the text. The audience member is frequently treated to the humour inherent in a satire of the bad wedding, but is then pulled back into the black dog of longing, regret and uncertainty, usually manifested by all too realistic renditions of boring self-important wedding speeches.
Although marveling at the physical and intellectual virtuosity of the piece, I very much felt like I do at a bad wedding, so thanks a lot.
David Grybowski
When: 3 to 9 Mar
Where: Adelaide College of the Arts
Bookings: adelaidefestival.com.au
