Works and Days

Toneelhuis / FC Bergman

Adelaide Festival

Dunstan Playhouse

5 March

*****

There is no doubt that this production, a joint venture between long-time associates FC Bergman and Toneelhuis, is different in concept and delivery from what we normally associate with theatre, and it is stunning.

The performance is very loosely based on the poem by ancient Greek poet Hesiod’s “Works and Days” from about 700 BC, about farming. Here it is adapted to deliver a visual history of man without a word being spoken.

There are several aspects that differentiate this from usual theatre. Whether this is acting, physical theatre, dance or whatever is really not the point. The intention appears to be presenting images that represent man’s progress through the ages and his increasing disconnect with the natural world. There is no one interpretation of the various scenes, each viewer will no doubt see the events differently.

To convey the message the show contains some very different vehicles. The very front of the stage was literally ploughed up, splinters of wood flying around the stage on two occasions. This had a dual purpose as beneath contained the props for the next scene. The opening also included an unusual participant, a live chicken! The cast erect a large frame structure, the industrial age is represented by a huge steam engine. Probably the most startling scene occurs when very heavy rain falls into a section of the ripped-up stage with the performer drenched and muddy. Finally, the present comes into view in the form of a robot dog. This juxtaposition of concepts makes sense in context and presents a powerful message.

In another break from tradition, the music is played live, with the musicians roving about the stage, and finally from a harmonium, just offstage in plain sight. Performed and composed by two members of the troupe, based vaguely on Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons”, and I mean vaguely, it, like the events onstage, moves with the times being depicted. From a simple reed instrument with a very pagan looking percussion through to clarinets, saxophone and onward to the aforesaid harmonium.

To say that this unique theatre is trite, but to say it is great theatre is certainly very true.