Concrete Solace [FringeTIX]
Phantom Limbs @ Holden Street Theatres (The Studio)
7:00pm, Fri 6 Mar 2009
As the lights creep up in the inky blackness of The Studio, two figures become apparent, surrounded by small, boxy caricatures of buildings. With the ambient white noise of a metropolis as a accompaniment, they deftly move each of their four buildings, changing the cityscape as we watch. The movements are clean, refined, but I can’t help but feel I’m watching a tightly choreographed Lego-building competition.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that – I love my Lego. It’s just…
Hmmmmm.
Suddenly music seeps into the background – with the industrial beat comes a sequence of synched movements, something clearly identifiable as “dance”. And it’s great – the crisp motions give the sense that there’s been some solid classical training undertaken by James & Amy. But then the music ends, and they lie down; the lights dim and a projector squirts a little lightshow onto the cityscape. The music amps up again, and they wear their city’s buildings, slipping them on their limbs like arm or shin guards. The music is caustic, the level of excitement high…
…and then it’s over. And I’m left a little confused by my response to Concrete Solace, especially after reading back what I’ve written above…. because there’s not a whole lot of Love in the above paragraphs. And yet, I distinctly remember leaving Holden Street absolutely chuffed that I’d witnessed that performance – and not just because I’d had the chance to purve on Amy for 30 minutes. Once again, the dance thing haunts me: was it actually good, or am I just pre-disposed to enjoying that which I do not understand? There were thrilling bits I liked, and dull bits that I didn’t… but I’m buggered if I know why that results in an overall positive opinion.
It just does, I guess. I’ll use one of my usual fall-back lines: “I dunno what I was watching, but I liked it.”