Left - Tim Crouch. Photo - Lisa BarnardEngland is a transformative experience, in many senses of the word. The performance which has been brought to Australia by writer/performer Tim Crouch for the Melbourne International Arts Festival sees Crouch and fellow performer Hannah Ringham act as guides in a tour through a gallery space. Although the performers clearly inhabit and reference the space (in this case the National Gallery of Victoria’s Ian Potter Centre) it is clear that England is designed to be performed in any space.
The performance is cleverly divided into two distinct halves and this enables Crouch and Ringham to take on many roles, without lessening the impact of the story. The first half, in which Crouch and Ringham play the same person, an unnamed narrator, explores the power of art and its influence on our lives, while slowly revealing our inherent human frailty through the sudden debilitating illness that has struck down the narrator.
The second half deals more subtly with the ramifications of this illness and how we take for granted the world in which we live, and that our perceptions of the world are not universally shared. The second half also enables Crouch and Ringham to inhabit a different performative and physical space, and this change in pace, strengthens the emotional effect of the performance.
England works for two reasons, the first is the assuredness and humanity with which Crouch and Ringham approach their performance, both performers are likeable and engaging as they coax you into their world. The second reason is that great care and consideration has been taken in the space that they have chosen to inhabit. The performers use the galleries in the Ian Potter centre to great effect and they have made deliberate choices about where they have placed themselves and their audience. In addition there is something almost religious about the high ceilings and this adds an air of solemnity that is often inaccessible in an ordinary theatre space. The gallery, like any gallery, also provides the viewer with a sense of emptiness that ironically serves to reinforce the completeness of the experience.
While all this might sound very highbrow and over-intellectualised, this isn’t the case. England is an entertaining performance that simply understands the space that it has chosen to inhabit, and such a clear decision helps the audience to understand this experience more completely. How wonderful.
Melbourne International Arts Festival and News From Nowhere present
ENGLAND
By Tim Crouch
Venue: NGV International, St Kilda Road, Melbourne
When: Wed 15 – Sat 18 Oct at 6pm
Duration: 1hr no interval - please note: latecomers will not be admitted
Prices: Full $35 / Groups (8+) $31.50 / Conc $26.25 / Student/MF-Y$25
Bookings: Ticketmaster 1300 136 166 / www.melbournefestival.com.au