Paradise City

Adelaide Festival Theatre

23 April 2008 - 7pm

Tonight was the opening night of the Festival Theatre’s inSPACE season 08, and it was opened by a show titled ‘Paradise City’.

This was quite a contemporary piece and was a little strange. If you are not used to modern performances you could be excused for not getting your head around this piece. In fact some people seated next to me left part way through the show, which to be honest I found extremely rude – It was only a one hour performance for goodness sake.

This performance was rather unique, in that the performers were generally street wise performers consisting of a skater boy, a b boy, a BMX rider, an acrobat, a contemporary dancer and a singer (or diva as listed on the program).

Each one of these performers was extremely talented in their own right. The B Boy name Anthony Lawang was a stand out with break-dance moves that were amazing.

Simon O’Brien who was the BMX rider showed why he was one of Australia’s number one Flatland riders. His moves and manoeuvres on his bike were well received by the audience and received extra cheers.

The singer (Diva) Inga Liljestrom had a wonderful unique yet raw voice as she sang haunting songs to create the atmosphere of the show.

The three remaining performers Peter Hona (skateboarder), Alexandra Harrison (Acrobat), and Kathryn Puie (dancer) each equally showed their talent in their field and contributed to create a different yet sensual performance.

As for the story line of the performance, well it was a little hard to nail it down to one particular story line. At first I thought it was a story about the Diva, she appeared to be conflicted and seemingly troubled with reality. I thought the other performers were highlighting the conflict in her head, demonstrating on different occasions the battle of the sexes, challenges in sexuality and general confusion.

However I spoke to the Director ‘Lee Wilson’ after the performance during Q & A, and told him my interpretation to see if I was on the correct track. He said that there was not really a set story line to the performance, and that it was a piece to outline the street awareness of performing arts. To highlight the beauty in skateboarding, BMX and b boxing etc.

I think with a ‘busy’ performance such is this one, that maybe one should not over analyse what the point of it is, that maybe one should just sit back and watch something not normally watched, and soak in the unique street culture that has engulfed our generations X, Y and Z.

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To view a clip for this performance, check out youtube at www.youtube.com/watch?v=drAQiLA3Y04

Because this performance opened the inSPACE program for 2008, patrons were treated to free drinks and nibbles in the foyer of the Space Theatre after the show. The advertiser was there taking photos for the Adelaide social pages, and the performers from the show made their self’s available for questions and comments.