The vast empty shell of the Melbourne Meat markets once known as the centre where stock and cattle are brought in to feed the families of Melbourne, seems an apt space for presenting a miracle. I was given complimentary ear plugs as a warning of loud music and smoke machines.
“Great!” I thought, “I’m in for an experience.” I sat in the elevated prefab seating with about 200 others for the new work from Phillip Adams BalletLab, Miracle. There were moments of Adams’ sheer awkward brilliance, with a style reminiscent of his last work, The Axeman’ Lullaby.
I reached for my earplugs as the rich, dark and complicated sound score by David Chisholm, an orchestration of noise, amplified by the loud audible screams, chants and raves by the live performers.
The four performers were pushed to extremes of physical and emotional exhaustion in the different scenes.
Each scene opened from a long blackout and a louder sound score, while sets on stage were changed. The performers danced, ran, fell swung with almost sexual states of ecstasy as they tried to reach nirvana.
As I watch I wondered if Adams was mocking spirituality and the acts of prayer and ritual.
The work explored a ballet ensemble, which shifted from postmodern spine release actions to tight choreographed arabesques lifts, pirouettes and porte-bras classical arm movements. Draped in smoke and mirrors, technically excellent, this theatrical work in the end lacked soul.
The last scene went some way to justify the irony of the work and the anxious search for euphoria.
The final image was stunning, embracing theatrical illusion and spatial transformation playing on the ironic nature of the miracle.
This was definitely not Adams’ best choreographic work, however it did have a theatrical language with a contemporary deconstructionist rhetoric which only Adams can provide effectively.
He invited the audience to search for meaning, but he failed to challenge them. The only miracle that night was getting all the green lights home!