Another show that must also come back for a repeat season is the Christchurch-based Loopen Experiment’s production Fleet, one of the most creative and innovative shows seen in Wellington for a long time. 

Exquisitely costumed and choreographed, this production embodies every aspect of performance as well as an amazing array of vocalised sound effects by the cast who also use a minimum of props most ingeniously.  So enraptured does one become with the magic of what is happening on stage that the fact that it’s not overly clear what the actual show is about is for once of little consequence.

In essence it is a journey of a young lad leaving home and encountering many adversities, real and imagined, all created by the other four actors.  Through the use of voice and physical movement they create an amazing array of people and animals as well as physical barriers like mountains and canyons that the young lad has to get through. 

The synergy and cohesiveness of the five performers’ combined with their professionalism makes for a most memorable show indeed.  

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Clad in hooded garb with mystical insignia on their tunics, the ensemble of five enter in processional mode, intoning what sounds like a Hebrew chant as they carry a white sheet between them. The lift it, it billows, floats, falls and crumples. They dance …

This is The Loopen Experiment from Christchurch, using ancient-cum-New Age physical theatre forms to explore, express and mythologize fleeting experiences of travel, migration and culture-clash.

Their physicality, as movers, dancers and body sculptors, is fluid, precise and fully committed. Their vocal toning too, is beautifully executed with, I’m told, Spanish and Swahili joining the Hebrew to provide the vocalised soundscape. A small drum, buckets of water, a metal bowl and wooden pestle are also ingeniously employed to generate the sonic atmosphere …

While a sense of tribal groupings, of humans and monkeys, and a lone traveller encountering them – being encountered by them – is something of a constant, I discern no structured narrative. Even so, the sense of intuitive recognition that most of the sequences provoke is enough to engage my interest and intrigued admiration.

Yes, there’s a ‘but’. Here’s how The Loopen Experiment promotes Fleet on their website (which also details their forthcoming South Island tour):

Enter a world where movement speaks
Where sound lives
Where imagination sparks
Follow Fleet as it weaves its way across the realm of experience
Let your dreams surface
And explore… the world of myth.

Given the cultural influences they draw on (which incidentally do not include anything distinctively related to these isles), what is strangely lacking in their otherwise impeccable work is humour. They take themselves very seriously, as if emphasising the ‘church’ in their hometown roots. Perhaps, as it tours, they will lighten up and the latent humour that’s doubtless trapped in there will be released. Or do they expect their audiences to approach with solemnity and reverence?

PS: The Loopen Experiment promises to commit random acts of theatre in Wellington streets while they are here. If anyone witness one, please tell us about it – either as a Comment attached to this review or as a Forum posting.
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