Jenny Nimon
Now Face the World by Curvebox theatre company is a devised show about every arts student’s worst nightmare: graduating. Their Fringe description promises ‘an irreverent fever dream of our greatest artistic career hopes and heartbreaks’, and I would say that a ‘fever dream’ is somewhat close to what is delivered.
It’s always exciting when I get to see a Fringe show in a venue I haven’t been to before. There’s something about choosing an unconventional space that implies an unconventional experience for the audience, so that is my expectation going in. And Meanwhile Gallery is a cool little venue. It’s got a bricked-in window, a view over POP Bar, and there are many many stairs to get there. I would believe that a group of broke arts grads would break into a space like this and make it their own studio. As the gallery is not a theatre, it’s not equipped with things like a lighting rig or a sound desk, so the company goes full DIY with lamp-and-torch lighting and a laptop hooked up to a speaker for playing voiceovers and cinematic soundscape. By doing this, they create a cozy, moody, makeshift atmosphere that lends itself to the concept. Kudos to lighting and sound designers Kirsten Grant and Luke Duncan, because that is all this show needs. There is no set, and that’s a good thing.
When the show begins though, I feel a bit whiplashed. It’s structured with short scenes (typically about the struggles of finding work and getting paid) that are intercut with physical theatre or dance sequences. The various segments trip over each other a bit, and what we’re left with is a kind of chaotic blur. It’s hard to keep up, and I have to keep reorientating myself in the narrative. The movement doesn’t quite hit the mark for me, as the performers have varying levels of dance skill and the choreo lacks polish. But even putting the level of polish aside, I find some of the physical decisions a bit odd. There’s a 30-second segment in which performer Haydn Carter just punches air, which is a bit jarring and feels out of place. However, later in the show, there is a dance lesson scene where the instructor says of the others’ dancing that ‘it is good dance for a toddler’, and that meta moment is funny and has me forgiving some of the clumsiness (it also leads to a significant scene about the treatment of students).
Through the show, the performers explore some important and relatable topics. Artists are regularly overworked but underpaid and undervalued. Exposure doesn’t pay the bills, and some institutions still have a toxic culture of ‘breaking artists down to build them back up’ – something that is especially topical after that tell-all article about Toi Whakaari dropped at the end of last year. Performer Luke Burke steals the show with his incredible monologue about being typecast as a male Māori actor. It’s beautifully performed, and it asks the sector some necessary questions. Why is it always the urban stereotype of ‘ghost chips’ and ‘Michael Jackson dance moves’? Why can’t Māori actors play diverse Māori characters? Arts industries have a talent for hiding behind a curtain of wokeness, but there are still so many biases that are yet to be shifted.
Now Face the World might not be the tidiest piece of theatre, but it feels very Fringe and says some very important things.
Now Face the World is showing at Meanwhile Gallery at 8pm until Thursday, 3 March to a sold-out season. For more information about the show, visit the Fringe website.
When the show begins though, I feel a bit whiplashed. It’s structured with short scenes (typically about the struggles of finding work and getting paid) that are intercut with physical theatre or dance sequences. The various segments trip over each other a bit, and what we’re left with is a kind of chaotic blur. It’s hard to keep up, and I have to keep reorientating myself in the narrative. The movement doesn’t quite hit the mark for me, as the performers have varying levels of dance skill and the choreo lacks polish. But even putting the level of polish aside, I find some of the physical decisions a bit odd. There’s a 30-second segment in which performer Haydn Carter just punches air, which is a bit jarring and feels out of place. However, later in the show, there is a dance lesson scene where the instructor says of the others’ dancing that ‘it is good dance for a toddler’, and that meta moment is funny and has me forgiving some of the clumsiness (it also leads to a significant scene about the treatment of students).
Through the show, the performers explore some important and relatable topics. Artists are regularly overworked but underpaid and undervalued. Exposure doesn’t pay the bills, and some institutions still have a toxic culture of ‘breaking artists down to build them back up’ – something that is especially topical after that tell-all article about Toi Whakaari dropped at the end of last year. Performer Luke Burke steals the show with his incredible monologue about being typecast as a male Māori actor. It’s beautifully performed, and it asks the sector some necessary questions. Why is it always the urban stereotype of ‘ghost chips’ and ‘Michael Jackson dance moves’? Why can’t Māori actors play diverse Māori characters? Arts industries have a talent for hiding behind a curtain of wokeness, but there are still so many biases that are yet to be shifted.
Now Face the World might not be the tidiest piece of theatre, but it feels very Fringe and says some very important things.
Now Face the World is showing at Meanwhile Gallery at 8pm until Thursday, 3 March to a sold-out season. For more information about the show, visit the Fringe website.