Attending a preview performance of Questions Without Notice, a new work by Performing Lines WA at the Playhouse; I was stunned to see how stripped back the theatre was. The audience could see the bricks all the way to the back and you realise what an open and immediate feel you can get from this most compact and immediate of stages.
The eight dancers arrived at the sidelines of the stage at differing intervals, there were no wings to mask them and they looked like they had just walked off the street. They took turns to follow and sit on the various benches littered across the stage and these items were the main props used throughout the performance.
While obviously utilizing dance, in variations and incarnations (there's a particularly hilarious moment when someone is asked what scares him and he replies 'The Spice Girls' and then their anthem is blasted through for the women on stage to zigazig aye!); there was extensive use made of the video cameras and projection facilities as the dancers spoke to us, commented on each other, strutted, raged, flirted, translated and then invited the audience to join them on stage!
I'll admit it - I was there! It was fun and hilarious and kind of surreal to look out and see the seat you had just abandoned, but who can resist a groovy MC (embodied with smarmy charm by Michael Whaites, a standout all rounder) urging you to 'find a partner!' 'go necking!' and grinning like a Cheshire cat over the dancers demonstrating the 'advanced roll in the hay!'
Spontaneous, eclectic, mischievous and surprising, Questions Without Notice made you live in the moment; wonder whether you could think on your feet or were more comfortable to fall back on the familiar; and realise how unplanned responses can sometime deliver reflective insights.
Carpe diem, huh?
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