'Paradise City' - Space Theatre, Adelaide/Touring Nationally

As posted on the Arts Hub website. By Rohan Shearn. Refreshingly raw is one way to describe Branch Nebula’s multi-genre theatre piece, Paradise City. Presented as part of the Adelaide Festival Centre’s 2008 Inspace program, co-creators, Lee Wilson and Mirabelle Wouters have devised a 60 minute work that has its formations in urban street culture combined with that of physical theatre and vocal performance. As a lone skateboarder (Petera Hona) traverses the space, b-boy Anthony ‘Lamaroc’ Lawang warms the floor as we observe tongue in cheek interplays between BMX Rider (Simon O’Brien) and acrobat (Alexandra Harrison), skateboarder (Hona) and dancer (Kathryn Puie). Simply staged with two ramps and a number of safety barriers, it allowed the six performers to explore the dimensions of the space, without the confines of a set narrative. Each is a master of their craft, offering the audience a journey into their world that knows no bounds. Adding another dimension is Inga Liljestrom’s vocals, a breathy cross between Bjork and Tori Amos, they are hypnotically manipulative. Bob Scott’s soundtrack of Bach, driving beats and the crunching sounds of skateboard wheels is industrially surreal as the sounds appear and disappear within the void of the Space. All ably mixed live by Sound Engineer, Liberty Kerr. Paradise City is an innovative work that brings urban street culture into the mainstream. A journey into the unknown for some, it is a culture that is engaging and at times challenging. We can only eagerly await Branch Nebula’s next offering. Space Theatre, Adelaide; Branch Nebula Wednesday 23 April, 2008. Touring Nationally till June.