Wednesday 5 March 2014

Review of Blackout at Adelaide Festival: More dance element please


A wedding held on a cruise ship was disrupted by a storm and everyone on board experienced some kind of revelation.  This Australia/ Portugal co-production Blackout was by Paulo Castro and Jo Stone, making its world premiere at the Adelaide Festival.   The performance was held at AC Arts Main Theatre.


While this was billed as a dance programme under the Adelaide Festival, it was more like a physical theatre / drama performance to me, with spoken texts and dialogue taking up bulk of the performance time.   On the cruise ship, we had the insecure bride and bridegroom, the absent bride’s father, the drunken bridesmaid, the over-friendly best man, the unsuccessful musician-friend, the macho ship captain and the waitress with a secret.  While these characters could be stereotypical, they were handled by the excellent ensemble cast.


The opening and ending dance sequence were memorable, complemented by the technical design, in particular the water elements.  For this preview performance, I found the middle section (where we got to know each person more) was too long.  The long winded and predictable narrative did not bring the plot forward.  


Blackout had interesting ideas and could do with a shorten storyline so as to bring out the physical theatre aspect of it.  I believe a tighter version would emerge when the show officially opened on Wednesday. 

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