No door on her mouth - a lyrical amputation

‘No Door On Her Mouth – A Lyrical Amputation’ was written by Dawn Albinger as a practical module of her WAAPA Ph.D. in Contemporary Performance, under the supervision of PICA Board member, Julie Robson and Lekkie Hopkins. Her post grad topic is ‘The diva icon in feminist theatre praxis’ (I interpret this as being ‘a powerful woman in voice and body, expressing her practical skills as opposed to the theory,’ – forgive me if I am wrong Dawn)

Presented by The Blue Room and Ladyfinger ‘No Door on Her Mouth’ is showing at the Blue Room Studio until Saturday 13^th November. All shows start at 7.00 pm.

Dawn is an Australian organiser of the admirable, international, cross-cultural network, the Magdalena Project, which was co-established by her course supervisors. The project distributes written works on feminism and art, thus giving support and training through friendly critical discussion.

The influential and varied dramaturgy was by Margaret Cameron, whose reputation spreads as far a field as Denmark’s Women’s International Theatre Festival.

The influential and varied dramaturgy was by Margaret Cameron, whose reputation spreads as far a field as Denmark’s Women’s International Theatre Festival.

 

        The 45-minute long act opens with a slim woman, dressed in a long bronze gown, mouth wide open. She is gasping for a pear lying on the table only inches from her mouth. Representative of the good things in life, so near yet still outside of he grasp.

        She demonstrates in mime and symbolic movement her mental torment. In an attempt to escape her abusive existence she goes to the back wall, where a video shows an area of total de-forestation. Then, she tapes out an area in the shape of a door through which to escape, cleverly this forms a hole in the picture, but like Byron’s ‘Prisoner of Chillon’ she doesn’t know whether to take the escape, or to remain with the psychological mess to which she has become accustomed.

        Then using the structure of Grimm’s Fairy Tale ‘The Handless Maiden’, Dawn shows again the agonies of this tortured woman and how eventually with love, she gains the strength and wins over the situation, living happily in the goodness of her father’s orchard.

 

All of us at some time in life have been faced with a heart busting with love. If your approach is too fast and intense, will it may appear pure lechery? If you are wooed too quickly are you cheapening yourself? In this play of feelings a more intricate study is made as Dawn delves into the fine defining points between love and resistance, thought and society, voice and breath.

In her performance Dawn tries to find a response to Belgian feminist, Luce Irigaray’s question of how to say, ‘I love you’ without it meaning, ‘I wonder if I am loved’, an issue similarly touched upon in Nat Cole’s 1948 song ‘Nature Boy’.

Award winning video artist, Sam James, takes us through various surroundings from the wild to the placid security of a Victorian home. The lighting, by Geoff Squires, is precise and emotive.

The solo contemporary performer is Dawn Albinger who employs such styles as ballet, singing and a dry sense of humour. There is a huge amount of symbolism, some of it quite stark and disturbing, and at other times tender. This mainly east Coast show is clever, perhaps too clever? It will intrigue students of movement and advanced literature, but could leave other cold. My interpretation could be totally wrong, indeed I could go back tonight and get a different vibe completely. Professionally admirable.