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Left - Catherine McClements, Gerard Van Dyck, Sally Seltmann. Photo - Jeff Busby.

As the term may well suggest, physical theatre explores the integration of heightened physicality into theatrical performance. KAGE is an Australian company that works exclusively in this form and since it’s inception in 1997, company founders Kate Denborough and Gerard Van Dyck have created several new and innovative works that explore the integration of text, movement, design and architecture.

Appetite is presented as part of the Melbourne International Arts Festival and marks a collaboration between KAGE and playwright Ross Mueller, as well as musician Sally Seltman, better known as the indie outfit New Buffalo.

Louise (Catherine McClements) is an affluent and successful woman. On the event of her 39th birthday, she cooks a feast of Dionysian proportions for her husband, sister and a small number of close friends. As the evening progresses, Louise becomes increasingly conscious of the discrepancy between her material wealth and her neglected emotional well-being, as her guests descend into a drug and alcohol fuelled exploration of excess.

The appeal of physical theatre lies in the exploration and subversion of theatrical form. Great work combines physical and verbal language in new and exciting ways and challenges the manner in which audiences read, engage with and contextualise performance. These elements should be developed simultaneously during the theatrical process so that text and movement are integrated and united at a core and fundamental level. This is often at the expense of text, letting the physical language speak where words fail.

Appetite displayed a lack of connection between the physical and verbal aspects of the piece, which was essentially a naturalistic play with movement interludes. These dance ‘breaks’ appeared somewhat tacked on and served no purpose in developing the narrative, as they were often demonstrative of what had just been said. However they did offer a welcome relief from the inane verbosity of Ross Mueller’s script.

The text simply wasn’t sharp enough to expose or comment effectively on the essential emptiness of material wealth when one is faced with desperate unhappiness. Besides, an attractive well-to-do woman experiencing an existential crisis whilst surrounded by mountains of lobster and champagne doesn’t exactly inspire a large amount of empathy.

The performers were immaculately physically trained (especially Michelle Heaven and Carlee Mellow) and were beautiful movers, but unfortunately confirmed that old adage that dancers shouldn’t talk, as technical proficiency wasn’t enough to elevate or enliven the stodgy script. Perhaps only with the exception of McClements, whose skill and experience with this style of theatre placed her at a distinct advantage.

Appetite is an ambitious project that needs more development in order to strengthen cohesiveness and unite all the disparate elements contained within the work. New Buffalo was meant to perform the soundtrack live, but was unable to due to illness. Perhaps this extra ingredient would have aided in deepening the impact of the piece and broadened the somewhat narrow emotional landscape.

But for a ravenous audience, this morsel is distinctly underdone.


Melbourne International Arts Festival presents
Appetite
KAGE

Venue: the Arts Centre, Fairfax Studio
When: Wed 22 – Sat 25 Oct at 7.45pm / Sat 25 Oct at 2pm
(Performance on Thu 23 Oct followed by post show Q&A)
Duration: 1 hour 10min no interval
Prices: Full $35 / Groups (8+) $31.50 / Conc $26.25 / Student./MF-Y $25
Bookings: Ticketmaster 1300 136 166 / www.melbournefestival.com.au