When Time Stops

When Time Stops
Ballet by Natalie Weir. Expressions Dance Company, QPAC, Camerata of St John’s Production. Playhouse, QPAC. 20-28 May 2016

The original production of Natalie Weir’s When Time Stops was one of the hits of the 2013 Brisbane Festival, earning Helpmann Award nominations for its choreography and score and winning for the latter.

This revival has allowed both Weir and composer Iain Grandage to revisit the work about a woman in the last moments of her life being swept away by flashes of memory. It’s a potent concept which Weir and Grandage realised with tender poignancy, stark reality and intense romance. And, it’s a dazzling success.

Sharing the stage with the Camerata of St John’s musicians, Weir has seamlessly integrated the dancers and musicians into a whole that is a perfect example of modern contemporary dance. The work showcases in duos and trios the technical virtuosity and the depth of talent within the company.

Although Michelle Barnett stars as ‘The Woman,’ the role is also portrayed throughout the piece by Rebecca Hall, Cloudia Elder and Elise May. Likewise, the men in her life are distributed amongst the males, Benjamin Chapman, Jake McLarnon, and Xiao Zhiren (on loan from the Guandong Modern Dance Company), blurring the line that they could be one man or many.

The finely sculptured Thomas Gundry Greenfield returned to his part of ‘The Ferryman’, dancing with incredibly strength and emotion as he transported ‘The Woman’s’ soul across the sea setting it free. The ‘Cardiac’ sequence where he gave CPR to Elise May was especially searing and memorable.

Hall and Chapman raised the emotional stakes with ‘First Kiss,’ whilst McLarnon, Chapman and Barnett ferociously crashed and burned in ‘Into the Wall, Bad News.’ Zhiren writhed expressively turning himself inside out with astonishing agility during the silver ‘Orb’ and ‘Time’ sequence.

Grandage’s all-string score cannot be praised highly enough. It is the third of his Helpmann winning scores we’ve experienced this year following The Secret River and The Rabitts, and it only endorses his level of compositional talent is inestimable. He’s not afraid to use sweetness in his scores or to resolve into the tonic chord to add romance which works perfectly for this work.

With impeccable playing from the Camerata of St John’s led by Brendan Joyce, Weir and Grandage’s ballet musically soars. Bill Haycock’s stunning design of a room tipped on its side appearing to fall into space adds invention to the production, as does David Walters’ striking shafts of light that at all times heighten the drama.

When Time Stops deserves its revival and this production deserves to be seen. It’s emotionally scarring and breathtakingly beautiful.

Peter Pinne        

Images: Elise May with Camerata of St John's and Benjamin Chapman. Photographer; Chris Herzfeld

Subscribe to our E-Newsletter, buy our latest print edition or find a Performing Arts book at Book Nook.