Jali | Studio Underground | til Feb 20 | ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
When you’re wearing a name like Oliver Twist, there’s bound to be an intriguing life story, and this comedian doesn’t shy away in his revealing one-man performance experience that gently takes his audience on a mesmerising journey from Rwanda to Ipswich and every emotional place in between.
The Jalis of West Africa are oral story tellers who pass down historical anecdotes from generation to generation. Twist embraces this cultural tradition, in a modern performance space, in his own unique way; Intricately weaving past and present as he recounts his story from the time he fled the Rwandan civil war as a four-year-old boy.
What is immediately apparent is Twist’s charm and humour even in the face of his trauma. Accompanied by a haze of atmospheric smoke and clever lighting, he shares his experience as a young refugee delving through themes of human displacement, identity, discrimination and violence. And yet, we as the audience frequently find ourselves laughing-out-loud.
It is in his refusal to be defined by events beyond his control that Twist finds the lightness in every moment. Balancing between intense sadness and pure joy, he effortlessly taps into relatable human experiences, coaxing his audience into realisations about our own humanity.
There is an intimacy and vulnerability in Twist that endears and despite the adversities faced, he never paints himself as a victim. Discrimination is shown to have many faces and it is easy to believe we are open-minded until faced with our own short-comings. Jali opens up another type of awareness of what has been and what continues to happen, from misplaced apologies to unspoken prejudice.
But Twist doesn’t leave us to wonder if we can ever truly move beyond history, for ‘rebirth’ is the essential theme to this transformative original piece. The gentle sound of water and poetic movement of light takes both him and us through a progressive baptism, symbolic of the several figurative rebirths that occur within one lifetime and the hope that we can look beyond and transcend our previous hypocrisies.
Everything about Jali is so personal that as you rise to applaud the humble performer named Oliver Twist, you cannot help but feel that you too have been reborn. So brightly does he paint the opportunities of future, he leaves us with the fresh realisation that new life is always possible.
Jali is running at the State Theatre Centre of WA until February 25. For tickets and more information, head to perthfestival.com.au
Evelyne Tymms completed a BA (Hons) in English and French at UWA with a focus on gender representation and film analysis, and went on to train in screen performance at the prestigious Nicholson’s Academy of Screen Acting. Evelyne has been part of the Perth film industry for almost 10 years and is a copywriter and voice artist for Magic Studios whilst also running personal branding and image empowerment workshops.
Image: Tom Gilligan
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