Incense smoulders on a warm Perth night, scenting the air of a vaulted hall abutting the city’s cathedral. The audience sits in two concentric circles: some on chairs, others on cushions. They have entered the space barefoot, like penitents or pilgrims, passing beneath an archway of crutches before taking their seats.
Opposite the archway is a shrine: steps lead up to a set of shelves on which stand a small statue of the Buddha, a menorah, a doll dressed as a nun, a tea pot and cups.
‘Everyone loves a cup of tea,” says Glaswegian choreographer and performer Claire Cunningham as she descends the steps, her passage complicated by the laden tea tray she carries – and her crutches.
Exploring ritual and respect, deities and disability, and the differences between religion and culture – between core beliefs and the people who practice them – Cunningham’s Guide Gods (one of two works the multi-disciplinary Scottish artist is presenting at this year’s Perth International Arts Festival; the second, Give Me a Reason to Live is also being presented at the Festival of Live Art in Melbourne in March) is a sweet but potent brew; an engaging blend of conversation, provocation and dance.
One of the UK’s foremost artists with a disability, Cunningham brings her own unique movement vocabulary – as well as a quick wit, dark humour, curiousity and compassion – to the production, which was inspired by a visit to Cambodia some years ago. It was there she met a former Buddhist monk who believed his own disability was the result of karma – a punishment for something he had done in a past life. Conscious of her own ignorance around issues of faith, and confronted by the insinuation that her own disability was of similar origin, Cunningham began to explore the attitudes of other religions towards disability, weaving her findings together into this extremely accessible show.
Accessibility is written into the production’s DNA. It’s not just audio described and open captioned: Guide Gods is playful and open – not dumbed down, but smart enough to recognise the value of appealing to diverse audiences.
Laughter flows easily, generated by the presentation of a Bible in braille or Cunningham’s truncated renditions of certain Christian hymns, the lyrics of which take on awkward significance in a show exploring the way religions sometimes stigmatise disability. Throughout the performance, musician and composer Derek Nisbet provides assured and subtle accompaniment on violin, euphonium and – briefly – a Tibetan singing bowl.
Extracts of conversations Cunningham has conducted as part of her research are woven together with personal reflections about faith and our shared humanity, accompanied by an audio track which describes her actions for the vision-impaired, and which sometimes – like the voice of God from on high – determines her actions before she has taken them, as if her every movement was preordained (which of course, in a tightly rehearsed show, it is).
Cunningham’s preference for tea and conversation over ceremony and deity take on greater significance when she begins to dance upon and over a series of upturned tea cups – they become the foundations for her work, the bedrock upon which she stands, as religion is for many in the community.
Significantly, the cups are not a matching set: each is a different shape, a different colour, and when slid across the floor, each sounds a different note – a pertinent reflection of society, and testament to the thought and care which Cunningham has invested in every aspect of this poignant yet playful, personal and deeply affecting production.
Rating: 3 ½ stars out of 5
Guide Gods
Creator and Performer: Claire Cunningham
Composer and Musician: Derek Nisbet
Designer: Karen Tennent
Lighting Designer: Brian Gorman
Burt Hall, St Georges Cathedral, Perth
11-21 February 2016
Perth International Arts Festival 2016
11 February – 6 March
perthfestival.com.au
Richard Watts travelled to Perth as a guest of PIAF.
