After a promising presentation of Standing Bird at FringeWorld, Jacqui Claus and Sally Richardson have further developed the piece to create a full-length work.
Waiting for the show to start, in the crowded bar of The Blue Room Theatre, it was clear that one woman was having a good night out. In a little black dress and shoes featuring sharply pointed heels, she was mixing with various groups, discussing her hairdo, laughing loudly and often. Even when perched on a bar stool, she was flashing her bright grin around the room, catching everyone’s eye. Enjoying the attention, she opened a bottle of bubbly, finding the popping of the cork hilarious and offering top ups. By the time the music started, she was well under way, pulling random people onto her impromptu dance floor and dancing on the actual bar, gripping the bottle the whole time. The laughter died and quiet remorse took her away… and we followed dancer Jacqui Claus into the theatre proper for the rest of the performance.
Waiting for the audience to sit, Claus’ face scolded silently from a video loop projected onto the walls, as she herself stood, face against the wall, near a water trough. Abruptly pulling herself together, she dunked her face into the water and found inner resolve. She began to move about the stage, still in the deadly high heels and little black dress, stepping deliberately, freezing, moving slowly, contorting, twisting, making sudden jumps that should not have been possible in those shoes! Displaying constant physical control, Claus jumped from scene to scene, taking her character through a variety of physical environments and mindsets, one expressed through video loops projected onto the walls and her slowly moving form as well as by the evocative physical prop of a handful of sand, and the other through gradually increasing intensity of facial and physical expressions.
Layers of being were stripped away, speech disappearing, clothes discarded, forms of movement changing – the finale of a staring, glaring, proudly strutting creature was intensely theatrical, with Claus confident that we had all followed her every step of the way from superficial flitting in a bar to her striking rebirth as bird/woman, a being who defiantly defined herself.
Standing Bird Two made the most of the dynamic physicality of this solo performer, able to control her motion for a full hour, conveying this development of repressed soul to the liberation of self-discovery. Some of the jumps between scenes were abrupt, but more kudos to director Richardson for allowing Claus to demonstrate her ability to take such changes in her bounding stride. Some of the movement seemed closer to gymnastics or circus performance rather than dance, again taking advantage of the amazing strength of the artist.
While not a show for those strongly opposed to interpretative dance, its sheer physicality and clear presentation make Standing Bird Two a performance that should be accessible and enjoyable to a broad audience.
3.5 stars out of 5
Standing Bird Two
Concept / Writer / Director: Sally Richardson
Movement Director: Danielle Micich
Vision Design / Editing / Documentation: Ashley de Prazer
Set / Costume Design: Fiona Bruce and Lauren Ross
Lighting Design / Sound Additional: Joe Lui
Sound Design: Kingsley Reeve
Performed by Jacqui Claus
The Blue Room Theatre, Perth Cultural Centre, Northbridge
12 – 29 November 2013
