[2013056] Fright or Flight
3 is a Crowd @ The Birdcage
9:15pm, Sun 24 Feb 2013
It’s my first visit to Arcade Lane this year, and there’s something a little less buzzy about the space – it’s almost as if all the Kool Kids have bailed on the ‘Lane in favour of Little Miss Mexico. As a result, the bar is verging on empty, and there’s only pockets of people waiting to see Fright or Flight… and most of them seemed familiar.
After a kerfuffle at the door – if you can’t take glass into the venue, then why serve the drink in a glass in the first place? – we wind up sitting a few rows from the front; not ideal, but the raking of the seats in the old Regent Cinema 3 doesn’t punish latecomers. And, after watching the audience in front of me point and gesture and whisper excitedly to each other, I figured out why they were tweaking my memory: about half the audience were circus performers, coming to see the show in support of their own.
The house lights drop, and the stage lighting comes up… a little. It remains very dim throughout, which adds a dream-like quality to the actions of Rockie Stone, Bianca Mackail and Olivia Porter (the Brisbane & Melbourne artists who comprise 3 is a Crowd); just as well, really, given the avian nature of their movements. After a curious start, which saw the women blindfolded and timidly wandering the stage whilst trying to whack the others with rolled up newspapers, there’s chicken-ish strutting and emu-ish stalking; but amidst the bird motif, there’s some great circus and acrobatic tricks, too.
A bottle-walking routine was almost hold-your-breath tense, with acute concentration of the performers exaggerated by the low light as bottles were whipped from underfoot within milliseconds of pressure being released; the presence of a blindfold during the suspended hoop routine added another element of danger. There was also a positively amazing juggling act, with balls (eggs!) zipping through the air in an incredulous manner… again, the low light levels created an air of magic there, but the use of knees and feet in that routine worked wonders.
And, despite the absence of dialogue between the women, there’s a genuine sense of humorous needling that pervaded the work – whether it be a cocked head in response to another’s trick, or just a stare in reply to a physical challenge. Another little surprise was the fact that I got to see how the other acrobats in the audience reacted: with every circus-y show, there always seems to be a bit of audience stand-offishness, where there’s a distinct reluctance to start applauding each trick until the show is comfortably settled. But I figured that the other performers would clap when they would want to be clapped – and, whilst they were still a little quiet early on, it was most interesting to see which tricks got them nudging each other and cheering.
All up, Fright or Flight was a quirky and entertaining bit of circus; a unique motif, and plenty of atmosphere, created a really creative and enjoyable event.