Light

To some degree history is the recollection and interpretation of individuals involved. Shakespeare claims “There is history in all men’s lives” and Voltaire says "History is only the register of crimes and misfortunes". Both of these themes are explored in the production Light by Thomas Henning and TerryandTheCuz.

Light challenges us to search for the truth that gets buried under other truths. It tells the double story of Francis Light, who in 1786 claimed the island of Penang as part of the British Empire and named it Prince of Wales Island.

Light cohabited with Martina Rozells, a Eurasian who believed herself to be the Princess of Kedah. Their mixed race son, Colonel William Light, laid out the City of Adelaide fifty years later.

Light covers 98 years of remembered history and is performed by three actors taking multiple roles.

Originally presented as a staged reading in Penang, Light travelled to Kuala Lumpur and makes its Australian premiere in the OzAsia Festival.

Unfortunately for the company, the set was not cleared from quarantine (having travelled from Malaysia) until the day of opening so an announcement was made before the performance to apologise and let the audience know that the show had only had one technical rehearsal.

Regrettably this was evident throughout the show with late lighting cues, microphone malfunctions, a muffled radio and unexplained pauses in the action. However, what did not function correctly in the dark jungle-like atmosphere of Act 1 was corrected for the white, sterile setting of the story of William Light’s design for Adelaide.

A multi-media show, Light features fog, neon signs, back projection, radio, voice over, wind and heavy symbolism. These elements, combined with the frantic pace of some of the dialogue, at times obscured the play’s vision, both visually and aurally.

The three performers, Gavin Yap (William Light), Martin Blum (Francis Light) and Junji Delfino (Martinha Rozzels) work tirelessly for close on two hours to make the history of Penang and Adelaide pertinent for today’s audiences. Their performances are high energy, ranging from the heavy dramatic to almost Monty Python-like sequences.

Junji Delfino gives us consistently believable characters and a close connection to the subject matter.  The other two performers, while giving credible performances, often appeared to be ‘trying too hard’, resulting in jarring contrasts between their dramatic and comedy sequences, however the script is to blame for some of these anomalies.

Thomas Henning’s direction is tight, well placed, but at times too generous with the use of pause. We are left wondering at times if someone has forgotten a line or a technical cue has not worked.

TerryandTheCuz’s design is evocative and stark, using minimal set for maximum effect, though this was sometimes lost in Act 1 which was dimly lit, resulting in the actors working out of light or their heads not being lit. That being said, the end of act 1, depicting the rise of the British Empire and the final sequence are both ingenious and surprising.

As this is a multimedia production, sound and video are crucially important. Liam Barton’s sound and Bryan Chang’s video projections hit the mark appearance and sound-wise, although the timing was late at times.

Light is a pertinent reminder that history is only one person’s recollection of the past.

What it lacks in precision and clarity is compensated by its message.

Interestingly, Colonel Light is buried some 300m from Nexus Arts in Light Square.

Barry Hill

Photographer: Darshen Chelliah