Review: SHADOWLAND Lights Up Melbourne This Winter

Lights up on a scattered stage and one lonely girl walking slowly towards centre stage. Such an unassuming entrance for what became a spectacular evening of impressive feats of the human body and ingenious light illusions. A glorious combination of theatre and visual art.

Pilobolus' SHADOWLAND starts with our protagonist in her bedroom with a music box and a makeup kit. A familiar scene for a little girl, but what happens next is not so familiar. As our lead drifts off to sleep (on a human bed no less, which sets the tone for what we are about to witness) she's lifted off into the storm of swirling dreams and nightmares. The male performers lift her with such effortless strength and the audience immediately believes she's floating. This is where the true magic of the cast's dance and acrobatic skill starts to unfold. Exceptional manipulation of their bodies to take us into another world but never once does it feel like a dance performance.

After escaping crazy characters and exploring new lands, an unexpected twist sees our girl transformed into half dog, half woman, so simply yet brilliantly portrayed by the clever placement of her arm. A bent elbow as her snout which sends her hand behind her head as an ear. Whilst some Audience members longed for more of a narrative or thread between the wild setting changes and character introductions, the show effectively conveys the randomness of our dreams and their transformation into nightmares.

Aided by the beautiful score from American musician, producer, and film composer David Poe (which is currently available for purchase and on Spotify), we are thrust into an enchanted world of too many cooks in the kitchen who use everything AND the kitchen sink, magical creatures and plants, and giant heads and hands with mystical powers. Every move the performers make contributes to whisking the audience away and providing mind blowing illusions. You quickly stop trying to understand how they are doing it and just enjoy the whimsy! The shadow work scenes are perfectly interjected by moments of choreography bringing the dancers in front of the screen and reminding us that what we are seeing is being expertly built by the bodies of these dancers. A very clever construct here.

The design of this show is beyond commendable and elicited awe inspired gasps and sighs from a captivated State Theatre audience. The humility of this performance must also be noted and applauded. At no point did it feel like the performers knew what they were doing was extraordinary, which made it all the more so. A truly honest and magnificent artwork.

Most of us know Pilobolus' work from the 79th Annual Academy Awards when they performed iconic moments from film, and SHADOWLAND is their follow up feature length piece. SHADOWLAND has performed over 200 shows worldwide and is currently touring Europe.

With Melbourne being the second city of the Australian tour, this show is set to delight audiences nationwide. SHADOWLAND is a true demonstration of the magic of the arts.

Pilobolus' SHADOWLAND is playing at Arts Centre Melbourne until August 14.

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