Shadowfall

With a nod towards Brecht and myth of Icarus, the writer/director presents a complex, layered play which uses spoken word, dance, movement, song, sound and lighting to lay bare some of the treacherous and challenging aspects of relationships and life.

The nine characters in the play are housemates. As Jazz shares thoughts, feelings and dreams it is revealed that the housemates’ concerns for Jazz are well founded. Jazz speaks the majority of the text and is surrounded by an ongoing expressive dance with occasional songs and sung tones which comment on the spoken words. A series of vignettes reveal the strength of the housemates’ concerns and other more voyeuristic reactions as they watch Jazz on the edge of a tall building.

The realisation of the play clothes the simple narrative of a person’s journey towards suicide with nuance and complexity. With so much on stage, there are issues with sightlines and some moments would benefit from having the focus.

Isabel Knight, Amalia Krueger, Sasha Leong, Isabella Anderson, Giacinta Squires, Nikki Green, Verity Wood, Breanna Milliken and Florensia Andarini work strongly together to weave a complex, moving picture of Jazz’s memories and inner world and the people who are a part of that world.

Shadowfall offers a tender, poetic and engaging experience and which presents an opportunity, as the writer/director hopes, to be curious and to think.

Ruth Richter

Photographer: Brendan Bonsack