The Colony

JUTE Theatre Company’s Indie Season reached a thrilling conclusion for 2012 with The Colony, presented by the Centre of Australasian Theatre, a truly multicultural company whose ensemble cast features members from a diverse range of backgrounds, including Japan and Indigenous Australia.

Fusing live theatre, dance, movement, music, film and visual art, The Colony began with the performers stumbling around in a kind of mysterious limbo, with the audience feeling disoriented, unsure of where we were and what we were doing. This was intentional, and was exacerbated by the entrance of Catherine Hassall’s character, a macabre singing figure who seemed – like Ariel in The Tempest – to be pulling strings somehow, and gently stringing us and the play’s protagonist, Hamlet, along. This created the fascinating effect of inclusiveness, uniting audience and players alike with a mysterious longing for something or someone lost.

The audience were further transported from the mundane world into the strangely beautiful world of the production thanks to a backdrop created by two celebrated Aurukun artists, Mavis Ngallametta and Craig Koomeeta, collaborating with Guy and Gina Allain of Moulin Rouge, The Rabbit Proof Fence and The Matrix fame. Their vision of an island made from ghost nets and other marine debris was realised beautifully in the cleverly-designed space.  

Renowned Australian fashion designer Linda Jackson’s costumes blended wonderfully both with the ghost nets and the set, and Jeremiah Johnson’s live music contrasted delightfully with Hassall’s haunting and powerful vocals, whose voice was matched only by her fluid, magical and puissant movement. The bawdy antics of Warren Clements, and the disciplined and measured eloquence of Miyako Masaki’s dance, further enhanced the production.

Often in these kinds of multimedia experiences the filmic elements are incongruous, but here, Savannah Productions’ film scenes worked charmingly with the live action, adding another dimension to the performance.  At times they blended into the backdrop; at other times they become another face of particular characters, allowing greater depth of expression.

The Colony puts Cairns on the map of Australian multicultural theatre; this reviewer hopes the Centre of Australasian Theatre can tour the production nationally. Director Guillaume Brugman’s vision for Graham Henderson’s text was bought to magical life via a culturally diverse ensemble cast, and the company is certainly one to watch out for in the future.

Rated: 4 stars out of 5