Luminaire
Sat, 17 Mar 2012, 05:05 pmGordon the Optom1 post in thread
Luminaire
Sat, 17 Mar 2012, 05:05 pm‘Luminaire’ was first presented at Murdoch University more than four years ago, when Chris Donnelly, its writer and director, was a student on his way to a First Class Honours in English. Chris helped form Renegade Productions a team that has gone from strength to strength, collecting awards on the way.
This new production can be seen at the Blue Room Theatre, 53 James Street, Perth Cultural Centre, Northbridge, with performances at 8.45 pm from Tuesday – Saturday until the 31st March.
The stage is black (set design Simon Culliver), the props are black and the two actors are dressed in black. Only the small areas that are picked out by the fine spot lighting can be seen. A narrow, parallel beam of light falls on a concave mirror; the light bounces off and can be seen focusing to a point about 40 cms from the mirror before spreading out again. It is more than 40 years since I have seen this done.
The girl (Alexa Taylor) explains in scientific terms how this illusion takes place. She gives in cold matter of fact terms, the dimensions of the universe and how the chemical reactions make the world tick. For this girl God has no place in the Universe.
The man (Jeremy Mitchell) however, explains that the world survives with love and emotion, and that number crunching has no place in the wonders that we see.
With a very rich dialogue the two people argue their cases, describing the world through scientific eyes one carries out experiments, however, the other unfolds the magic of the universe with examples of talented poets like Coleridge and The Smashing Pumpkins front-man, Billy Corgan; he then creates stunning visual displays, similar to those of artists like Pollock, in an amazing, bright and unique method – the ‘lumiscape’.
Light, whether a mere blend of wavelengths or a gift of God is shown to be essential to life, existence and enjoyment.
Chris Donnelly has recently returned to Perth after his award winning shows in the UK, New Zealand, and even a Helpmann-nominated tour of Australia.
With clever use of chromatic scales and synaesthesia, the music by Joe Lui takes you onto another level. The rich and deeply meaningful writing will transform you. Sadly, I found the brilliance of the writing a little too rich. With every sentence being loaded with words that were either new to me, or that I hadn’t heard for a while, I had a little bit of a problem keeping up with the exceptionally clever narration. Perhaps a slightly shorter show might have helped, as I felt as though I was eating my way through a whole Pavlova and fruit cake – magnificent, delicious but too rich.
Matthew Marino’s technical operation was complex and completely successful.
The cast were wonderful, delivering this dazzling text to perfection. The direction was fascinating as the cast climbed scaffolds and swung on luminous lianas. The full properties of light were exhibited, from prismatic refraction to the scintillating glass fibre radiance.
A brilliant production, but be prepared for a symphony of words, and a totally original visual indulgence.
‘Luminaire’ was first presented at Murdoch University more than four years ago, when Chris Donnelly, its writer and director, was a student on his way to a First Class Honours in English. Chris helped form Renegade Productions a team that has gone from strength to strength, collecting awards on the way.
This new production can be seen at the Blue Room Theatre, 53 James Street, Perth Cultural Centre, Northbridge, with performances at 8.45 pm from Tuesday – Saturday until the 31st March.
The stage is black (set design Simon Culliver), the props are black and the two actors are dressed in black. Only the small areas that are picked out by the fine spot lighting can be seen. A narrow, parallel beam of light falls on a concave mirror; the light bounces off and can be seen focusing to a point about 40 cms from the mirror before spreading out again. It is more than 40 years since I have seen this done.
The girl (Alexa Taylor) explains in scientific terms how this illusion takes place. She gives in cold matter of fact terms, the dimensions of the universe and how the chemical reactions make the world tick. For this girl God has no place in the Universe.
The man (Jeremy Mitchell) however, explains that the world survives with love and emotion, and that number crunching has no place in the wonders that we see.
With a very rich dialogue the two people argue their cases, describing the world through scientific eyes one carries out experiments, however, the other unfolds the magic of the universe with examples of talented poets like Coleridge and The Smashing Pumpkins front-man, Billy Corgan; he then creates stunning visual displays, similar to those of artists like Pollock, in an amazing, bright and unique method – the ‘lumiscape’.
Light, whether a mere blend of wavelengths or a gift of God is shown to be essential to life, existence and enjoyment.
Chris Donnelly has recently returned to Perth after his award winning shows in the UK, New Zealand, and even a Helpmann-nominated tour of Australia.
With clever use of chromatic scales and synaesthesia, the music by Joe Lui takes you onto another level. The rich and deeply meaningful writing will transform you. Sadly, I found the brilliance of the writing a little too rich. With every sentence being loaded with words that were either new to me, or that I hadn’t heard for a while, I had a little bit of a problem keeping up with the exceptionally clever narration. Perhaps a slightly shorter show might have helped, as I felt as though I was eating my way through a whole Pavlova and fruit cake – magnificent, delicious but too rich.
Matthew Marino’s technical operation was complex and completely successful.
The cast were wonderful, delivering this dazzling text to perfection. The direction was fascinating as the cast climbed scaffolds and swung on luminous lianas. The full properties of light were exhibited, from prismatic refraction to the scintillating glass fibre radiance.
A brilliant production, but be prepared for a symphony of words, and a totally original visual indulgence.