Guild Theatre, Melbourne.
October 2, 2024.
The arc of the narrative and the more symbolic trajectory of the dance can create troublesome geometries; especially since dancers are rarely great actors. It takes some deft manipulation to bend them into shape. Molly Implement this trick and then some.
It starts off harshly, with a stiff comic voice and phrases cut into unusual chunks. Soon, we’re caught up in choreographer Caroline Meaden’s disjointed rhythms as the body expresses itself in similar counts. If we initially wonder who “Molly” is, we quickly learn that this is not a single identity. Indeed, as we delve deeper into the increasingly fragmented “story” and the fourth wall becomes more transparent, we realize that what we are watching is a performance. this is an act. Not just the nine-strong ensemble, but us. to some extent we are all derivative. Everything is rooted in stereotypes.
To illustrate this point, Meaden mines a wide range of ideas and images from theatre, film and art. From crazy girl memes and “summer vacation gone wrong” plots, to the surreal weirdness of Lynch and the experimental flourishes of Beckett and Godard, Molly Travel through kitsch, horror, absurdism and cultural criticism. Deeper is the Dadaist approach, breaking form to create form.
If this all sounds very abstract, Meaden and her team imbued the piece with recognizable dance phrasing. Furthermore, movement becomes the form of narrative. As Meaden says, dance is the language and drama is the framework. The end result is Molly It is indeed a dance-theater work, a drama written with dance lines. The plot may not be linear and the payoffs less obvious, but the journey is immensely satisfying.
The richness and complexity of the work further flourish due to the subtlety of the canvas. A plain stage, cleverly lit, with lovely slow transitions that you could easily miss, but which add to a sense of eeriness and dislocation. The same goes for the sound design, with the sonic palette never quite settling into melodies or gracefulness, but never being overly rough either.
While we might criticize Meaden et al. for sometimes veering into pantomime, and for swallowing the odd line of dialogue, these are small details that do not detract from the beauty and conceptual joy of the work.
Molly Immerse yourself as if you were a guest at her vacation home, stripping off and going for a swim. Repurposing a Classic 20th Century theme, it also throws a shared mirror up. Here, reality becomes performance and then reality.
We are all actors, Molly Want to remind us, even if we can’t dance.
Author: Paul Ransom Dance information.
