The Waiting Room
What are we waiting for? the dentist, lunch, judgement day, the end?
A small room, a door, a million possibilities . . Collective human behaviour under the microscope, from the mildly amusing to the disturbingly surreal . . . when there is nothing else to do.
A small room, a door, a million possibilities . . Collective human behaviour under the microscope, from the mildly amusing to the disturbingly surreal . . . when there is nothing else to do.
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Performed by six of Melbourne’s most experienced physical theatre performers and improvisers and one sound artist, THE WAITING ROOM throws all the cards in the air each night – only to find them reordered in ways that seem uncannily inevitable.
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"The Waiting Room" won the Brisbane Powerhouse Award and subsequently had a sellout season at the Brisbane Powerhouse as part of the World Theatre Festival and The Substation Melbourne.
Devisor / performers - Carolyn Hanna, Penny Baron, Tamara Saulwick, David Gray, Kate Hunter, Nick Papas and Debra Batton Music and sound performance - Michael Havir Lights - Greg Dyson |
Reviews
"What makes this piece radically beautiful is that it interrogates and embodies the random processes intrinsic to human behaviour. Informed by physical theatre, social psychology and neuroscience, The Waiting Room is a living incarnation of fractal art....The Waiting Room is cutting-edge experimental theatre: a profound exploration of how we choreograph ourselves from chaos."
Cameron Woodhead The Age
Cameron Woodhead The Age
......”For me, the real highlight of the production was the sound work. Arranged and performed by Michael Havir, the composition is sublime. Jumbled airport announcements, tribal drums, soaring orchestral movements and even the taboo ringing of a mobile provide a backdrop that acts as both setting and chorus (in the ancient Greek sense). Laudably the brilliance of the composition never overshadows the performance itself. Instead it adds texture, depth and a necessary point of reference about the emotion being projected on the (improvised) stage.”
Michael Kingston
Michael Kingston
"The Waiting Room is an extremely difficult experience to describe, it relies on audience interaction, trust and an acceptance of what is going to happen next. However, and I can say this without hyperbole, it is the most mesmerizing experience that I have had all year in the theatre."
Nic Velissaris, Australian Stage
"It seemed to elicit, in its exits and entrances, sad human reflections such as Gauguin wrote on one of his Polynesian paintings: “Who are we, where do we come from, where are we going.” In this way, the work was oddly moving. One room, one door, rows of chairs and ourselves as co-performers"
Douglas Leonard, Real Time
Nic Velissaris, Australian Stage
"It seemed to elicit, in its exits and entrances, sad human reflections such as Gauguin wrote on one of his Polynesian paintings: “Who are we, where do we come from, where are we going.” In this way, the work was oddly moving. One room, one door, rows of chairs and ourselves as co-performers"
Douglas Leonard, Real Time
