By Peter Maddern
A girl in her school uniform appears on the stage – a large plywood floor illuminated by diffuse light from above. Accompanied by a barely audible crackle – maybe it’s rain on a tin roof – she assumes a pose, part theatrical, part athletic. After what is an extraordinarily long opportunity for the audience to focus, others appear. They too are dressed as they would in their everyday lives – a young lad ready for the gym, teachers ready for class – and they too assume positions on stage whether by walking or by running.
This is 600 Highwaymen’s Record, a 60 minute performance from, in total, 45 local people. It is, they say, about “what happens when one group of people watches another – a focus on the primal elements of the place, the people, the time.”
While there was something engrossing about it all, even the restless seven year old in front of me seemed after ten minutes or so to start taking it all in (or maybe she fell asleep), most of the interest was spurred in no small part by Brandon Wolcott’s synthesised accompaniment to Emil Abramyan’s cello that together reached great heights of drive and compulsion. But just whether the objectives of the Highwaymen were achieved is probably for each patron to judge. Just whether this was theatre or dance is another question for individual taste.
Interesting, worth the trip from home, but not sure I would want to pay to see it again.
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