Review: ADELAIDE FESTIVAL 2017: GALA at Scott Theatre

Reviewed by Barry Lenny, Wednesday 15th March 2017

French choreographer, Jérôme Bel, under the auspices of London's Dance Umbrella, auditions in each place that the work, Gala, is staged and selects an extremely diverse group of fifteen participants with a wide range of dance abilities. Added to this is the use of improvisation, the latter part of the performance having a number of different people selected each night to perform, while the others attempt to follow what the leading person is doing.

It begins in silence with a slide show of various vacant performance spaces, from elaborate theatres, to small theatres, community halls, and open air amphitheatres. I immediately thought of Peter Brook's book, The Empty Space, adapted from four lectures that he gave in the 1960s. He defines four types of theatre and, as the evening moved forward, this performance fitted well into the fourth of these which he labels "immediate theatre". He gives his definition of this.

"Immediate theatre occurs when the audience is reacting to the happening on the stage. These reactions are different every time though because the members of the audience themselves are different and it is hard to predict their feelings, understanding and behaviour. In the immediate theatre, the viewer should take to indulge the present and to allow for that transition between what is happening on stage and what is happening in their hearts at that precise moment."

With Gala, not only does the audience change every night, but so does the performance. What I saw and felt on Wednesday evening will not even be what others in the audience saw and felt, and will certainly not be what audience members see and feel on the other evenings. All that can be said with conviction if that you will see something different to the norm, and you will have feelings caused by the performance and the performers.

The programme mentions no cast names and so, even though I could do so, having seen some of the professional dancers and a choreographer who were in the cast perform often in the past, I will respect that decision and not do so. Suffice to say that, although there were some highly talented, trained and experienced dancers in the cast, there were others who were not, but still equally enthusiastic and determined.

There was a wide age range, from a small boy and girl to, well, let's just say more mature members, a diversity of cultural backgrounds were represented, an indigenous performer adding a very sensitive segment, and the inclusivity of the work reminded me of local groups such as Restless Dance, No Strings Attached, and Tutti. This work, too, catered beautifully for the abilities of each performer.

There was humour, pathos, joy and serenity at various times, and a couple of show stoppers. When the cast members were led by a highly skilled lady with a hoop, it was made clear just what went into her act by the fact that even the professional dancers struggled to follow. The big finish, New York, New York, brought the house down, and this is the segment that will end the performance every night even though the preceding one vary.

Don't go with any fixed expectations, because this is quite different to anything that you have probably seen before, but do go in anticipation of a very special experience, because that you will get. Hurry for tickets because, as you have no doubt already discovered, Festival performances sell out.

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