3 Seeds

3 Seeds is a series of three short plays presented on a cold Friday evening in Northbridge, Perth at the Blue Room Theatre, a venue with a reputation for experimental work. This work is written by Sudanese-Australian poet and writer, Afeif Ismail; transcreated (an artistic reworking of a literal translation in collaboration with the creator of the text) by Vivienne Glance and directed by Jeremy Rice. 3 Seeds has strong visual images and more physicality than spoken language. The last play, One Seed, is entirely non-verbal.

The standout actors were Kevin Mararo Wangai and Violette Ayad. Paul Grabovac also contributed a brave performance in One Seed. The strong physicality in the performances is mainly brought about by the energetic Mararo Wangai. He is a compelling performer who excels in the whimsical dancing scene of In Godot’s Labyrinths, as well as leaping about in Rats, accompanied in energetic output by Verity Softly and Brianna Williams.

Overall, however, the weaknesses outshone the strengths. The contrast between comedy and serious philosophical comment in the first play In Godot’s Labyrinth was somewhat confusing and there were some underwhelming performances that weakened the play.  The Beckettesque style of strong rhythmic language was diluted by a certain lack of actorly conviction. In both the Godot play and One Seed, there was insufficient narrative to drive the works, with a reliance on subjective audience interpretation for devices such as a UFO in the Godot play – was it representing the passing of time?  Alien insight? Or simply a lighting device?  

The two more serious works – In Godot’s Labyrinth and One Seed were separated by a comic interlude Why rats live under our roof that used an interactive comedy style, perhaps echoing a Sudanese storytelling mode, but seemed to come across as more stand-up comedy with Verity Softly’s engagement with the audience. There was a thematic link about giving birth between this play and One Seed, with the same bright red scarf denoting the placenta detaching after birth, but apart from this link, I struggled as an audience member to see the relevance of putting one play next to the other.

The strong visual narrative style in the last play One Seed helped with audience engagement, particularly with the humorous swimming scenes and hand crab performances. But without verbal language, I was struggling to interpret the final scene of a nude woman swinging on a horizontal axis under the seed/pods. This sombre note was at odds with the jolly almost slapstick style performance up to that point. Overall, the works feel like they are at the beginning of an idea, rather than a fully formed production. In this sense, ‘seed’ is a suitable analogy for work that is budding.