Dream art, much like dreams themselves, are difficult for many artists to get right. Brisbane theatre ensemble The Leftovers attempt to do just that in their new show, Leftovers (From a Dream).
Part of this year’s 2high Festival at Brisbane Powerhouse, the show deals with the emotional implications of a young man’s frequent dreams about his father. Finn (played with perilous intensity by Thomas Hutchins) has just met his father for the first time. As a result, he finds himself struggling to correlate the man he’s just met with the absent figure he’s grown to both loathe and long for. Soon though these nightmares come to dominate his waking life and Finn’s only hopes lie in a patronising dreamologist’s interventions, and his weary girlfriend.
Many have tried to explore the dreamscape before (Salvador Dali being one of its best known proponents). It has an inherent mystery that provides artists with a unique opportunity to try and understand our convoluted, interior lives. But the subject also has its downside. In exploring alien terrain, an artist risks alienating their audience.
Fortunately, The Leftovers avoid unnecessary confusion by using a cleverly constructed narrative through line to make sense of the strangeness. A minimalist lighting design and stylised movement make for some visually stimulating images, but it is the characters who keep the story grounded. They reel us in, belting out dialogue that sounds strikingly real and believable. It is this uncommonly human touch that provides a clear and unmitigated focus on the play’s central concern: the limits we have in realising our world.
For an emerging theatre ensemble, I appreciated the polish of the production. Each scene linked coherently with the next and the entire cast carried an energy that one could only describe as potent. I hoped for a little more depth of character though, and several narrative choices struck me as a little contrived. A careful sprinkling of humour and live music did much to assuage what was lacking, however, in what was otherwise crafty entertainment.
While it may not reach truly Freudian heights, Leftovers (From a Dream) delivers a deft mix of music and physical theatre that is sure to entertain even the most casual of theatregoers.
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
2high Festival presents
Leftovers (From a Dream)
Created & performed by The Leftovers: Thomas Hutchins, Jordan Kadell, Jessica Smith, and Michael Whittred
Visy Theatre, Brisbane Powerhouse
10 November
