Fashioned from top local talent and delivered with choreographer Morag Magnolia Brownlie’s characteristic humour and sensitivity, the disarmingly beautiful Birds of Paradise is a unique blend of feathery fantasy and environmental fairy tale.

Woven together with a thread of vocal gold, this unusual show features an outstanding mix of live and recorded sound integrating a contemporary, experimental use of voice with the recorded riches of Sean James Donnelly and others.  Mixed in the moment by sound operator Marc Paton, the score of Birds of Paradise has an unusual sonic dimensionality, with its layered, collaborative quality reflective of the personality and choreographic intellect behind the work. 

"Thank you for leaving your technology at home," applauds Brownlie to the audience at the beginning of the show, although arguably we never quite do, with the impact of technology carried within the constructs of our identities, our senses and subjectivities, as well as our expectations and perspectives on life and art …

Joining the journey of sound, an unfolding narrative of ecological warning is played out amongst a series of danced unveilings.  Layers of opulent costuming, designed by Brownlie and featuring significant creative contributions by Trelise Cooper and others, create a strangely oscillating aesthetic experience given the context of the low key venue, leaving me with the feeling I have stepped inside the zoom function of Google Earth.

Towering above us from a pair of black stilts, replete in black crinoline frock (a fabric expanse Brownlie refers to as a ‘story book’), there is an otherworldly quality to this work that reminds me of Wim Wender’s Wings of Desire.  The angelic inference, found in the choreographer’s surreal stance as she sprinkles the audience with handfuls of glitter and snatches of bird song, is underscored by her initially monochromatically-clad cast who subsequently dramatically unveil over the evening in sequential bursts of colour.

An intellectual work gracefully wrapped in the playful cellophane of fantasy, Birds of Paradise observes the absence of the female figure in contemporary children’s mythology, bridging questions of gender identity and ecological concerns with embodied expressions of both human and ornithological courtship.  "Have you noticed," Brownlie observes in lilting, story-telling tone as she prepares to rewrite The Hungry Caterpillar as a she-male, "even pink Piglet is a boy." 

Falling from an ethereal, black-stilted height, her words land together with a handful of glitter, somewhere on my skin, contributing to the dissolve of the paradigmatic ‘fourth wall’ between audience and performer. 

Full of surprises, moments of pathos and sexually competitive humour, Brownlie’s lightly played work of feminist regard is further developed by her inclusion of male dancers in this contemporary and ethically provocative take on the burlesque form.   As the sequential removal of layers of costuming from the female dancers eventually reveal a triplicate splash of bright-pink satin frills, shaken in impressive tail-feather style to Beyonce’s hot Single Ladies by sparkly-shoed Naressa Gamble, Georgie Goater and Seonaid Lyons, male dancers Mike Holland and Vivio Ramos create a striking contrast with their chiselled bodies and expressive faces.

Alternating with Brownlie’s frequent interpolations, a wide-eyed Jonathan Brugh plays the studiously attentive David Attenborough, lacing together various sections of the show with his finely crafted comic ease.  The expressivity of the face, together with elements of courtship rituals interpreted within contemporary, hip-hop and Latin-American dance vocabulary make this work a multi-dimensional choreographic challenge tackled by the artists involved with a collective coy conviction.

Integrating performance theme, dancers’ costuming and audience members’ hair-dos (encouraged via the advertising and ticketing information), all contribute to the sense of intimacy of the work, along with a frequent use of the aisles as part of the performance space.  Brownlie, Mika, Henry Ah-Foo Taripo, Cuban Groove (Greydis Montero and Vivio Ramos) and Pacific Sway (Aruna Po-Ching and Feeonaa Wall) all make notable appearances in this area.

Of global appeal, with an outstanding use of sound and costume and the integration of themes of identity, femininity and environmental concern, Birds of Paradise is an inspiring, mindful work.  A genius of casting, Henry Ah-Foo Taripo’s transcendental voice and Georgie Goater’s luminous delivery of danced abandon and delicate bird-like nuance mark them out as artistic lights in this undeniably fantastic collaboration of local talent. 

While arguably a little too long in its current form, with some editing and attention to transitions Birds of Paradise suggests a performance product of international class. 

One of the best shows I’ve seen this year. 
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