Symphony, Legs on the Wall, CarriageWorks, January 13

It’s Dark Outside, Perth Theatre Company, CarriageWorks, January 13

WHAT do 30 large cardboard boxes have to do with Beethoven’s sublime 7th symphony? Unfortunately, as it turns out, very little. The intriguing starting point for Symphony is Stefan Gregory’s arrangement of Beethoven for one electric guitar. From that, Legs on the Wall director Patrick Nolan posits a theme of the group versus the individual, the many against the one. Not only is the idea sadly well trawled; its articulation brings no new insights.

Those 30 boxes are put into one formation, then knocked over. They are placed into a different pattern and then fall over. Then the performers move the boxes around once more. Andrew Wholley’s attractive video design finds a home on them, but there’s more tedious box work than during the late-night shift at Woollies.

The performers dash about, recount several dull stories and look at each other meaningfully. They work extremely hard but the movement language lies somewhere between dance and gymnastics and has the clarity of purpose of neither. Gregory creates a huge wall of sound that sometimes focuses tightly on Beethoven’s themes and at others makes them more diffuse, but is always of musical interest.

IT’S Dark Outside takes a difficult, bewildering subject and handles it with delicacy, tact and grace. An old man with dementia takes off into the night and is visited by his dreams, fears and memories as he tries to make sense of a retreating world. His mind is clouded – It’s Dark Outside makes that idea a beautiful and touching motif – but he gallantly tries to go on.

Tim Watts – he of the widely travelled, much acclaimed The Adventures of Alvin Sputnik – and collaborators Arielle Gray and Chris Isaacs tread gently in an emotional minefield. Their theatre of puppetry and animation takes the edge off a very brutal business while Rachael Dease’s mellifluous score offers the audience a soft, protective cushion.

I suspect, however, that anyone who has seen dementia up close will see It’s Dark Outside through tear-filled eyes. I know I did.

Both works are part of the Sydney Festival’s invaluable About an Hour series, which has seen several incarnations since its inception by former director Fergus Linehan in 2006. Whichever way it goes, it’s a winner.

This review first appeared in The Australian on January 15