| 14 August 2011
Pachamamas draw their inspiration from the Latin American experience of the world: where life transcends daily reality and is infused with a sense of magic and the surreal. Emergence feeds off this perspective, pulling together storytelling, cabaret, physical theatre and the otherworldly into one hour-long performance. The plot of this production revolves around the death of a mother. As her daughter Agnes returns to mourn her loss, it is the funeral director (who is both the show’s resident narrator and philosophiser) who leads her to remember and reveal recollections of her past and her tumultuous relationship with her mother.
At moments this production is a wonderfully tender and real exposé of the bond between mother and child. The scene where Agnes is lovingly wrapped up under a heap of scarves, as her mother determinedly packs everything her daughter might need while she is away in England is heartfelt and beautifully executed. In these first flashbacks of the play both Emily Kreider and Agnes Brekke seem to truly inhabit the fears, hopes and longings of their respective characters.
Where this play lost its way was in its overzealousness to do too much. The physical theatre in moderation added another dimension to the performance, with incredible skill displayed by Ecole Jaques Lecoq graduate Kreider. But, by the final scene Kreider and Brekke had exhausted this medium so completely that it was sapped of its dramatic power. They also must find the balance between under acting and over egging it to make this show as special as it could be.
Emergence, Underbelly, 4-28 August (except 15th) 11.20am
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