Light

This past week's highlight was a trip to the Battersea Arts Centre to see a show; Light by a company called Theatre Ad Infinitum. Theatre Ad Infinitum is an international ensemble of theatre-makers who use the body and movement as a primary tool for story-telling. Many of their principal artists are trained in Lecoq technique. Lecoq is a movement and mime school out of Pairs and its practitioners have made a significant contribution to the world of performance.

Light was no exception to the positive impact of movement artists in our field. The 70-minute show is set in a futuristic world where the population and its government are constantly connected through a communication device implanted in the brain. Freedom of thought is a rebel cause and the mainstream is carefully controlled by those in charge. A small ensemble of five performers played out the Orwellian tale using no dialogue. Lighting effects were used in combination with a detailed soundscape and perfectly choreographed movement to illustrate location, time and mood. The "light" mentioned in the title refers, in part, to the red light implanted into the minds of the people or, once "enlightened" to the rebel cause, the green light that replaces the government's implant. 

The production sounds as if it could be technically complicated. In actuality, the show is very self-contained. Many of the lighting effects were created by simple devices and were manipulated by the performers on stage. The LED lights and other devices were used almost like puppets with some on sticks and were whirled around the stage by the performers as part of the choreography. The stage was a black box with black cubes to use for levels and the performers were dressed in black. All of which gave the staging and use of light the ability to focus the audiences' attention to specific moments and many on a small scale. The use of the staging was a kind of reflection of the world represented in the story. 

Light is an excellent reminder of how effective simple elements can be when clever artists get creative. A big West End budget with lots of bells and whistles can be fun and exciting but a little can go a long way if used with ingenuity. The trip to Battersea Arts Centre proved an inspiration and I look forward to future works by Theatre Ad Infinitum.

This coming week I hope to catch some more shows happening around London. And of course, the thesis project is cooking. More on all that to come!

Stay tuned!

Take care!

-m