Review: Beyond Belief

Beyond Belief by Stephen Sewell & Legs on the Wall
CarriageWorks centre for Conemporary Arts
31 July 2007

As published in today's The Daily Telegraph

From the directors notes, the origins of this physical theatre performance was inspired to ‘create something outside the religious conservatism that increasingly seeks to dominate our society in so many ways’. The end result is a performance that highlights the age-old themes of innocence and youth.

Three performers slowly enter a playground like space to the sounds of a distorted recording of children and we start with a world where the young are discovering the art of 'play'.

As the childlike characters explore the physical world around them, they find themselves playing games: word games with letters on a lightbox, hide and seek with torches in the dark, rope games and playing house with planks of wood.

Interspersed with the games are short pieces of text written by Stephen Sewell that attempt to give a violent narrative on to the innocence of the piece.

It’s an interesting idea that has a flicker of beauty but overall this performance by Legs on the Wall is one of the most disappointing that I have seen from this usually talented group.

The three performers (Alan Clarke, Alexandra Harrison & Kate Sherman) are all accomplished in their fields. This show dwarfs them, however, as they struggle with a text that verges on cliché (‘first the chicken, first the egg, first the chicken, first the egg’) and they get lost on a giant set and are forced to move in mundane and artistically simplistic ways.

Legs on the Wall have attempted to break from their usual practice of gravity defying physicality and move into a realm of story-telling narrative. The result is under-whelming and what is presented is a show that not only lacks depth but seems unfinished.

Aside from an excellent sound design by Carl Polke, most design elements appear to have been patched together with little consideration for the unique spatial qualities CarriageWorks provides.

Sadly, the talent of the performers is smothered by their being forced through a series of merely basic physical movements.

Beyond Belief is a poor cousin to other plays and productions that have explored these themes of life and death.