[2015063] Smashed
Gandini Juggling @ Royal Croquet Club – The Panama Club
2:00pm, Sun 22 Feb 2015
It’s hot. Really hot. 40-odd degrees hot. And it’s the middle of the afternoon and I’m going to see a show in a tent with a heap of Other People. And lots of the Other People are not pleased with the conditions. “Why isn’t the air conditioning on?” asks someone who stopped studying mathematics before they got to “volumes”. “They should have turned the air-con on sooner,” barked a certain ex-Parliamentarian to a Croquet Club worker who almost certainly couldn’t do anything about the weather.
Anyway.
The staging at the start of the performance was intriguing: nine chairs at the rear of the stage, equally spaced, with rows of apples stretching out in front of them. More apples were piled at the sides. And when the this particular troupe of Gandini jugglers took to the stage (Gandini has multiple groups performing Smashed around the world), they wore fixed grins and were remarkably in time.
And I thought to myself – hang on. Is this juggling? Is this dance? What section was this under in the ‘Guide, again? (Answer: Circus)
But – perfectly in sync, grins locked – the cast started scooping up apples as they walked across the stage… and started juggling. Solo, groups, one-handed, two-handed, amidst acrobatic grabs… they juggled. They juggled well, and the apples were arcing across the black stage backdrop in a spectacular visual display. That the performers themselves were immaculately presented (suits and vests for the men, elegant dresses for the women) only added to the spectacle.
Somehow, with no real spoken parts, they manage to weave something approaching a narrative into their tightly choreographed juggling/movement routine… and it reaches a crescendo when the apples start being hurled around the stage, shattering on impact… and the plates (that had snuck their way onstage during one of the more narrative moments) started getting smashed, too.
And I suddenly realised where the name of the show came from.
I loved Smashed. The juggling was pretty polished (not super polished, mind you – there were a few spills), and the direction (choreography?) of the performers ticked all my boxes. But oh, to have seen this performance in a more temperate venue…
(63) Smashed: Visually arresting synchro-juggling with anarchic denouement. Impressive performance; oppressive venue. #ff2015 #ADLfringe
— Pete Muller (@festivalfreakAU) February 22, 2015