Temuan [the meeting] | Flaming Locomotive Engine Room | Jan 27 & 28 | ★ ★ ★ ★ ½
There are three types of really good Fringe shows. The first is that show that has you raucously laughing out loud, literally rolling in your seat. The second hits straight for your heart, making abstract notions like love, violence and suffering palatable, bringing tears to your eyes and your soul to your throat. The final really good Fringe show is a combination of the other two. Temuan [the meeting] is this third type of show.
On arrival, you are gifted a small yellow flower. Award-winning actress Sharda Harrison then begins with an intimate introduction, asking the audience to imbue their flower with a wish before collecting all of the blossoms together. This personable, amicable tone then melds into the show proper as Harrison begins exploring our relationship with animals and each other, pointing out that all animals – including humans – have ‘the ability of sentience, the ability to suffer’.
Singaporean born Harrison begins weaving a story of her family and home, one that commences – like most good stories do – with snakes. The narrative is light, fun, airy. It’s a rambling tale of intimacy, of heritage, of the importance of life and, consequently, death. After all, for a snake to survive, it must kill.
Then something absolutely incredible happens. The lights dim, media plays on a big white screen (please note that at times there are very graphic images played) and Harrison begins to dance. And not just any kind of dance. This is a shamanic dance, a dance of transmutation, a dance that allows the spirit of ancestors to enter her body. Literally. The articulation of her movement, the sharp precision of her breath, they all begin to swirl in a hypnotic display of shifting skin, of changing from one being into another.
You might think that’s hyperbole on my behalf, but it isn’t. Quite literally, after dancing the first time, Harrison takes on the tone, stature and mannerisms of crazy cat lady, Aunty. Her body, voice and gestures become possessed by this comical character whose insanity is a levity of life, albeit one that accentuates the apathy of her government.
The dancing occurs several more times throughout the show, most notably when Harrison invokes the character of Father. This man, who loves the orangutans at the zoo where he works more than his wife, is haunted by the abuse he has witnessed between his own parents. In an attempt to control the impotency of baring witness, Harrison as Father lays waste to the stage in a moment of spoken word rage. Violence as a display of affection is always confronting, and Harrison emphasises that confrontation with aplomb. In fact, the description of bruises is so horrifically poetic it will haunt you, just like the performative act articulating them will make you gasp.
This show touches on conservation, family and suffering in an electric manner. Poetry and performance meld seamlessly, Harrison stating that ‘love is a difficult concept because we’ve turned it into a concept’. Of course, such deep thoughts are eloquently balanced with hilarity and ladder scrambling antics, Harrison’s brother offering moments of buffoonery to distill the drama.
But it is Harrison and her dancing which are the true highlights of this show. Her movement is wondrous, empowering, charged. There is something ceremonial, erotic and tribal in the way she moves, as though she understands how the body is a vessel capable of transmuting energy of the being to then give to the audience. Shamanic is a word I used before and is, quite simply, the only word capable of articulating Harrison’s ability.
Some shows make you laugh. Others make you think. But this one does all that and more. You will leave feeling as though you are carrying something sacred and special inside your soul, something that Harrison has conjured and gifted especially just for you. As if it were a wish, or a small yellow flower.
Scott-Patrick Mitchell
Temuan [the meeting] will be at the Flaming Locomotive Engine Room at the State Theatre Centre until Saturday Jan 28. Tickets available from fringeworld.com.au
