Review: LISTENING TO WALLS WEAR OFF THEIR COLOUR at Baxter Theatre

Listening to Walls Wear Off Their Colour is an intimate, thought-provoking experience that demands more than passive observation. From the moment the performance begins, the audience is called to be still, to sit back and listen, allowing the narrator’s voice to guide reflection. It is in this quiet space that the synergy of movement, sound and image takes hold, drawing viewers into a landscape where stories, bodies and emotions intertwine.

The collaboration between Lebanese theatre director Maya Zbib, Australian choreographer Lee Serle, Colombian visual artist Mateo López and two South African dancers, Lorin Sookool and Grant van Ster, creates a visual and emotional architecture that shifts and evolves with every moment. Individual narratives overlap, abstract yet deeply human, revealing the invisible connections that bind us all. The work explores displacement, isolation and the fleeting moments of understanding and empathy that exist in contemporary life.

What makes this performance striking is its insistence on reflection. Audiences are invited not merely to watch but to inhabit the space between stories, to let their minds wander and to confront their own fears, memories and desires. The result is a quiet intensity, an interplay of stillness and movement, of voice and body, that lingers long after the final frame.

In just three performances at The Baxter, this internationally acclaimed trio offers a profound meditation on connection, humanity and the potential for love in a fractured world. It is a reminder that theatre can do more than entertainment, it can provoke thought, invite empathy and open the heart.