Reviews

Ascent is an amazing experimental fusion of sight and sound!

The story revolves around a woman who is having a serious body image crisis and a chorus of mocking and witty assistants who rally around her. Along with her exquisite team of creatives, writer and director Jayde Kirchert has developed a beautifully choreographed and composed piece of animated theatre.

The play begins with author Peter Knight grinding out a murder story in an old mansion where another author had been murdered years before. A weird electrical storm has cosmic effects and his characters come to life. Naturally they are the typical characters of murder mysteries that had appeared in such novels in the past. They are the ingénue, the seductress, the butler, the nasty old lady, the lawyer, the juvenile and the maid who is always pregnant. Oh, he has a normal maid. Peter loses control of his characters and the murders begin to occur – as in a novel.

The all-female collective, Vulcana, begin their part-performance, part-installation with 18 individual monologues delivered via smartphone app and digital design by Line 26. The 20-minute introduction takes place outside in the concrete space next to the Brisbane Powerhouse Stores Building. The performers repeat movements, carry out silent scenes, enact fragments – shards of their stories – while we voyeuristically wander and watch on, listening in to their thoughts online.

This was a lavish banquet of a production that is an absolute treat for lovers of operetta and musical theatre. The first thing to knock your socks off is the tidal wave of sound.  A sumptuous orchestra fills the Concert Hall stage, surrounded by up to 300 singers.

The choir sounds both tight and energetic, and is a dynamic part of the production. At various times they move, change costume and radiate a joy of appreciation for the work which coincides with the 100th anniversary of the birth of the composer Leonard Bernstein.