The Earth Above: A Deep Time View of Australia's Epic History
Fringe shows can have such variety in performance, but most involve taking a seat and looking at a performing space in front of you. Not so with this experience at Adelaide Fringe, which returns after last year’s sell-out shows with new stories. This venue is a large tent-like structure, entered through a gap in the wall, to sit (or rather lie) on one of tens of bean bags, looking up to the dome above them. Projected to this dome are immersive stories, from undersea life in a reef to a video experience accompanying the music of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon.
The ’Earth Above’ experience tells four ancient stories from around Australia in immersive photography and CGI, beautifully created by Deakin MotionLab in close collaboration with First Nations communities.
The first explores the changing nature of Girraween Lagoon on Larrakia and Wulna Country outside Darwin, how the rising and falling water levels sustained life. Cloggs Cave on GunaiKurnai Country in Victoria is next to be investigated: an ancient cave for medicine and magic, stalactites used ceremoniously, burning fires underground.
The third is Lake Mungo in New South Wales, on the land of the Barkandji/Paakantyi, Ngiyampaa and Mutthi Mutthi people, where stories are told of how Ice Age footprints on the bottom of the lagoon got there thousands of years ago. And the last takes us under the water of the Great Barrier Reef, to Jiigurru, important to the Dingaal community.
It’s a wonderful exploration of sacred lands looking back over thousands of years, and the immersive nature of the sound and vision transports you to these places and times for thirty minutes.
Review by Mark Wickett
Subscribe to our E-Newsletter, buy our latest print edition or find a Performing Arts book at Book Nook.