Dear John.

Situated at the point where music, theatre, dance, and artistic installation all meet, Dear John is an exploratory and experimental piece of avant-gardism, presented essentially without conventional distance between performers and viewers, as a tribute to legendary musical figure John Cage. Whether you find the end result entrancing, or indifferent, or somewhere in between, will be largely a matter of personal taste.

There are certainly fascinating moments and aspects to Dear John. With a severely modified piano as its centrepiece, the opening images/sounds are graceful and enticing; notes are gently tinkled in a most novel fashion indeed - incorporating a special shirt and some puppet strings. Another highlight is undoubtedly the mesmerising effect of gradually dripping water illuminated in such a way that it appears to be drops of fire.

Coloured lights that shone magically through the darkness, appearing almost to levitate over the performers, were a significant contribution to the presentation's visual texture. The more technical, scientific, and computerised elements were less interesting to this reviewer, as were the eventually tedious atonal sonic extremities that were battered out of the 'prepared' piano. Fortunately, the soothing sound of 'rain sticks' would arrive to offer periodic relief.

An almost alarmingly physical display of percussive intensity, performed atop a wooden crate within the perimeters of a 'light cage', was worthy of applause on its own. Ultimately, it is possible to admire the adventurous spirit of this troupe from Taiwan, without being completely able to embrace the final product. Most likely, Dear John is a piece that can - and will - continue to adapt, evolve, and improve.

Anthony Vawser