Faraway

Faraway is an hour in a realm that is far removed from our everyday lives, an empty dark stage relieved only with ropes tied to look like vines hanging from the ceiling. A sign that we are going to experience a unique theatre experience.

As the director and choreographer Jenni Large succinctly explains -

“Faraway is an attempt to destigmatise (even desensitise) sexualisation by celebrating the sexualised body and by exposing raw and fantastical depictions of these experiences and forms. Kink is theatrical, Fairytales can be fetishistic… What is the erotic if not a way to deepen our quality of life? It’s all magic, really.”

Her vision is reminiscent of scenes from the movie Hellraiser where creatures beyond our imagination dwell, crawling, writhing and up close and personal, except these creatures also display incredible dance skills and those that go beyond dance.

The production is superbly choreographed by Jenni Large & Brianna Kell, with imagination and daring I have not seen from ADT for a while. It borders on the experimental and relies on the dancers’ collaboration with the choreographer and allowing themselves the freedom to move beyond dance at times to a new form. The use of slow motion was mesmerising.

The dark eye makeup and dark lips gives the dancers an almost gothic look as they glare at us with no emotion. It is unnerving to begin with but then serves to draw us further into the piece as does their use of voice, sometimes soft, sometimes sharp, and often to cue each other into a new section.

Meg Wilson’s designs are sexual, kinky, and beautiful to look at. The base costume for all dancers is a body stocking in either a lace fabric or body stocking. These are topped with corsets, harnesses and leg pieces held on with straps and buckles. There are also creatures, one looking like a large black cocoon, and the other with built up arm sections that cause the dancer to move using primarily the arm sections. When not used these costumes become disturbing shadows on the side of the stage.

Alex Berlage’s lighting design is stark and gritty, with horizontal lighting bars, dark moody corners and flashing stark lightning strikes revealing the dancers in new positions.

Anna Whitaker’s music is innovative and varies from gentle sections to sharp angular passages accentuated by the dancers’ voices. I loved her use of the harp, represented in the piece as a sort of mythical lyre.

The dancers themselves - Joshua Doctor, Macon Escobal Riley, Yilin Kong, Zachary Lopez, Karra Nam, Patrick O’Luanaigh and Zoe Wozniak work as a collaborative unit interpreting Large and Kell’s choreography and making it their own. This can only come from a collaborative approach during rehearsal. They are disciplined, skilful and committed to the vision of the piece. They become their own fantasy creatures and inhabit them fully. The ‘skipping sequence’ is memorable as is the ending with the dancers suspended above the stage swaying, also the entire company on hands and knees hopping from side to side and another section with their bodies intertwined, turning as one.

They are sexual in its true sense “Sexuality is a central aspect of being human, encompassing biological, psychological, social, and emotional dimensions of sexual behaviour, identity, and health”. They are creatures stripped back to their primal elements and behaving as such. It was a joy to watch!

Faraway is exactly what it says, a trip to another world far away where creatures live that may look different to us but represent our innermost desires. It is a production that will live in your memory long after the event!

Barry Hill OAM

Photo Credit Jonathan VDK