Saturday 30 September 2000

Tightrope by Krinkl Theatre, Sept 30, 2000



At The Diggers North Melbourne Town Hall until October 8, 2000

Show:  8.30pm

Reviewer: Kate Herbert



The Fringe Festival is always riddled with extremes of skill and quality of performance. Tightrope is one of the more inventive and satisfying pieces- and you could take the kids to it.

Lara Cruickshank and Padi Bolliger are Krinkl Theatre. The title of the company captures something of their work. They crinkle, wrap and sticky-tape newspaper to create images and puppets before our eyes.

Their work with newspaper puppets is inspired by English designer, Julian Crouch, allows the daily newspaper to be animated in simple and vivid ways.

The two puppeteers are part of the action. They arrive through a sea of crumpled newsprint and develop a seductive relationship with each other as they move to the stage.

They roll and cellotape paper until we see a tightrope appear before us. A newspaper puppet, trapped in a suitcase, emerges. He is the tightrope walker. His limbs are ill-formed, his hands are huge fans of paper and his eyes are lumps of cellotape but he is a living creature to us.

He is animated by his two puppet-masters who are, in turn, manipulated by his tricks and antics.

It is delightful watching the little paper puppet giggle as he teases his masters then quake in his paper boots as he is forced to climb the tightrope ladder.

He develops confidence as he practises his tricks, twirling an umbrella, doing flips and balances on the tightrope.

Less successful theatrically is Snap, written and directed by Ross Brisbane. (Not to be confused with Snap at La Mama)

A woman (Melanie Such) is dissatisfied with her career as a photographer. She snaps pics of children, glamour shots of bored housewives and even photos of a Turkish family for their tombstones.

When a disturbed man (Kane McDonald) asks her to photograph "the person I used to be", she finds he has left his evil presence behind in her studio.

The premise could make a grim, philosophical play but the show lacks definition in the writing, direction and performances. Scene changes are interminable, characters are static and there is no emotional substance.

By Kate Herbert


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