Media trip out of this world

Press, 27 July 1988, Page 19

Media trip out of this world

KAY FORRESTER finds out about a multi-media satire.

Poetry, dance and music are the ingredients for a multi-media theatre; production by several Christchurch artists, called “Out of this World.” The reason they have chosen to mix their media is to learn about the demands of other disciplines. The idea for the co-operative production was that of Kathy Ferigo, a choreographer and dancer. In her last work choreographed for the Southern Ballet Theatre she used a stilt walker. “I wondered about using other media in combination and what possibilities for performance there might be,” she says. She recruited Matthew Robertson, a performance poet and art teacher and Robin Greenberg, a producer. Robertson’s poems provide the storyline. “We went through hundreds of Matthew’s poems and selected several which had a trend for the storyline. Then Matthew wrote some new work to fill in the gaps,” Greenberg says. That storyline sees Robertson as the central character of Quasar, a spaceman who rides Halley’s Comet to Earth to check up on the planet before the twenty-first century. Quasar meets up with several earthlings and tells them of their history from his previous visits, courtesy of the comet. While playing the central spaceman character, Robertson also takes on a character within each poem. The earthlings and the other poem characters are played by five dancers from Southern Ballet Theatre. As Quasar and the earthlings, the six cast members portray the history of the world — a satirical but positive perspective, Kathy Ferigo says. As characters within the 14 poems in the show they act out the stories of the poems.

The character changes are delineated by masks — made of plastic laminations and rubber latex.

All of the performers, including the musicians who appear on stage in the second half, wear masks. More than 30 are used.

The music for the production comes from Stellar Haze, a three-musician band which works regularly with Robertson. For the first half of the show the music by the band is taped, but in the second, two masked musicians play live on stage and a third from behind the audience.

Kathy Ferigo says the production is a chance for all involved to learn from the other artists. When she talked over the concept with Southern’s artistic director, Russell Kerr, he offered the Southern dancers.

“So we have been lucky in the good will we have received. Mr Kerr had wanted to give the dancers some experience of other artists anyway so Southern Ballet has sponsored the show with the dancers.”

The production also has the support of the Southern Regional Arts Council and S.C.O.P.E. It got money also from the Christchurch Community Arts Council for a mask workshop for the dancers.

“Because they are dancing in the masks it was important they know how to use them and to make them. Each dancer has had a mould of their face made as a base for the masks.” Also used in the production is film. Slides are shown in the first half and a film of Robertson performing one of his poems is included in the second half. The multi-media satire will open at the Southern Ballet Theatre of August 4. Evening performances at 7.30 p.m. will be on August 4,5, 6,9, and 10.