(Pic
by Val Adamson)
The Playhouse Dance Residency is an
excellent company, capable of strong movement and impressive moods. (Review by
Caroline Smart)
Scars is a new Playhouse Dance Residency which ran in the first week of
the Playhouse Company’s South African Women’s Arts Festival.
Superbly lit, the set is a simple but
striking range of rope ladders hanging from the flies.
A woman comes in moving very slowly,
pulling a number of bodies attached to her at the end of long ropes. She is
dressed in a layered white outfit, her sleeves extending beyond her hands. The
bodies eventually start to move and encircle her. After a while, she lets them
go and they move free of the fabric ropes, becoming independent of her,
writhing and thrashing about.
Arms flailing, the women in the company
rise and start gyrating, shuddering, falling and spinning.
The male bodies now rise and spring into
action. There is a feeling of desperate frustration as if in search of
something that can’t be identified.
The main character starts wrapping up the
ropes and putting them on her head. We have become aware of the sound of surf
and now a thundering heartbeat starts.
The main character is now stripped of her
white outfit and dressed in the same layered flowing garments as the others.
She is protected and surrounded in the process with much care and love.
The women and men perform apart from each
other until they join up, take off their layers of clothing and end up in the
same basic tops and pants. They come close to each other and eventually finish
in a kind of swimming motion, moving forward with purpose.
The programme notes read that this new
production “explores gender stereo-typing, and the negative effects it causes.
By tapping into the energy of unlimited human imagination, these barriers can
be swept aside, freeing up the human race to realise and rejoice in its full
potential, to the benefit of all.”
Oliver Hauser’s lighting design is
stunning, using spotlights in the square format as opposed to the circular.
The Playhouse Dance Residency is an
excellent company, capable of strong movement and impressive moods. Lulu
Mlangeni’s choreography is powerful and robust, pulsating with energy. Scars was an excellent choice for the
women’s arts festival. – Caroline Smart
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