Review: Threadbare - Melbourne Fringe Festival

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Mon 19 Sep 2016 - Tue 27 Sep 2016

Threadbare by Natasha Jynel is a new work now showing at the Melbourne Fringe Festival until 27 September. Book your tickets here .

On entry to the Butterfly Club theatre we are welcomed by two people who hand us a eucalyptus leaf, a script and a program.

A tall woman dressed in linen stands on stage speaking poetry into a microphone. In the background plays Acknowledgement of Country by Vida Sunshyne over the speakers.

The audience are a motley cure over concerned about finding a seat, clinking glasses with people they know and it is evident that they are unfamiliar with the ritual that is about to unfold.

Despite this, the spoken word poet persists, until we realise that the eucalyptus leaf connects us to the spiritual; connecting us to country. We realise that we are in a cabaret club, that has transformed into a church, a temple - a sacred space.

A performer signs her story to the audience in Auslan, providing another experience of language amongst spoken word and song.

We are shown images of political events, of war, of struggle, asylum, displacement and diaspora.

Female body image is explored in many forms through stories of trauma, dance, movement and exposure of a performer's natural body and scars.

Fabric is a motif used throughout t as a veil, film screen, wrap, swaddle, a tent, and a shawl, and perhaps symbolic of the many threads that hold each individual and communities together through struggle, change and evolution.

The performance presents intense provocations to the audience about struggle, freedom, power and cultural diversity through, story, song, poetry, music, dance and ritual.

The performer's cultural identities span from Persia, Pacific Islands, Colombia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe and Ghana. Threadbare also explores connection with communities: queer, deaf, refugee, asylum, arts and religious communities.

The performance is presented in three sequences: Part I - welcome, acknowledgement of country and the 'urge to speak'; Part II is based on ritual, movement and dance - The Flower, The Woman and The Wind. Part III is A Place, A Dream, A Choice with a strong emphasis on decisive action and empowerment.

Threadbare presents the richness and complexity of cultural diversity and weaves connections between the stories of oppression to stories of freedom, acceptance and peace. The key message of Threadbare is left open to the audience to interpret - but has the audience walked away with the intended message?

Natasha Jynel has gone to great lengths to curate and create a cross-cultural performance with Threadbare, and I hope this work is given further opportunity to evolve and be presented to many audiences.

#performing_arts
#near_melbourne
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#september
!date 19/09/2016 -- 27/09/2016
%wnmelbourne