Manipulate Festival featured a series of free events showing performance scratches of pieces currently under development. One piece presented in this programme of ‘Snapshots: Artists @ Work’ was Laura Cameron-Lewis and Shona Reppe’s How the Light Gets In.
How the Light Gets In discusses the phenomenon of hoarding and what it is like to have a hoarder as parent. Partially autobiographically, partially fictional, the piece in its current form approaches the topic from a variety of viewpoints. It shows elements of autobiographical storytelling, shadow-play and musical theatre. The scratch was followed by a Q&A session with the artists. It was an interesting insight into the working progress of the duo and while not complete, the piece reveals some interesting ideas and potential.
While the developed piece will star Camille O’Sullivan, the director and writer Laura Cameron-Lewis stood in as performer on a minimalist stage featuring a bamboo mat and background screen. Shona Reppe, best known for her puppet theatre shows, took on the role of a visible stage hand, kneeling on a green carpet next to an overhead projector at the front of the stage, projecting onto the screen paraphernalia and randomly assembled items – some common, others obscure.
The excerpt begins with a move to Japan following a failed relationship, contrasts European and Japanese ‘ways of life’ and aesthetics. In a frail and vulnerable state, having left everything behind, the protagonist finds herself comforted by the minimalist Japanese aesthetic and the idea of wabi-sabi: seeing beauty in something imperfect or incomplete. The scene serves as a juxtaposition to the environment of hoarding left behind.
The dialectic of these contrasts and the symbolism of the scene unfortunately remain stereotypical. Clichés of minimalism versus endless consumerism, orient versus occident and a benevolent, intrigued gaze on the mysterious other make this part fall short. However, the use of projections and shadows to slowly paint an image to the narrative, the mixed use of the projection for background imagery as well as abstract tea ceremony tell an absolutely enjoyable story.
The escape to Japan also gains a little more significance later on, when the protagonist clashes with her past during the attempt to clear out the mother’s house after her death. One can feel the anxiety and dread of the performer when she realises that even in her death, her mother pulls her back into this universe of clutter, baggage and regalia. The symbolic and geographical escape is rendered impossible in her mother’s final attempt to keep holding on to everything: even and especially over her dead body, the daughter is forcibly returned and re-collected. This makes one think about the horrors of a horder’s legacy. Nature or nurture? Either way, is there an escape from all the trappings?
Ultimately there are many interesting questions to be explored, that were already implicit in the material. Some elements, such as a song half-way through the piece and a style of gesticulating performance that showed little confidence in the script’s inherent evocative power, were underwhelming but might improve, once Camille O’Sullivan accepts the part.
Shona Reppe’s operates the projector, blurring the lines between tech staff, stage hand and commentator. One moment she is loudly slurping drinks, mimicking the extended family and funeral guests, in the next she underlines the narrative with precision and meditative calm.
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