Savage Amusement’s Far Away… So Close guides you to the privacy and comfort of a hotel room, where a computer awaits for you to contact ‘a distant friend’. Exploring the notions of love at a distance, the one-on-one performance is conducted over Skype while snuggled under the covers. Staying in a hotel room, even if only for the 25 minutes of the piece, gives the sensation of travelling and lends weight to the notion that this is a long distance relationship.
Far Away… So Close is devised and performed by Melanie Jame Wolf, and incorporates clever use of props on both sides of the Skype call. The audience member quickly becomes a character in the piece, creating a persona in the conversation with their temporary ‘lover’. The participant is left to ponder their own relationships after leaving the hotel into the night.
Commissioned for Theatreworks’ ENCOUNTER(S) project, both Far Away… So Close and Make the Call aim to inspire a sense of intimacy between the artist and single audience member, in spite of the distance and inadequacies of communication tools. The reviewer found herself quickly matching the warm tones of the performers in each piece. With familiarity built quickly between performer and participant, the endings of each piece inevitably feel abrupt; however, the lingering memories of the experiences feel much sharper as an active participant in one-on-one art works, rather than a passive viewer in a theatre.
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Far Away… So Close
Savage Amusement
Devised & Performed by Melanie Jame Wolf
Concealed venue
Festival of Live Art
www.fola.com.au
24 – 30 March
