Australia-born, Glasgow based mostly dance artist Penny Chivas excursions Burnt Out, her intimate however impactful private expertise of the devastating 2003 Canberra bushfires round Scotland on this 2023 tour.
In 2019 Chivas discovered a paper written by her environmental biochemist father within the late Seventies. The paper predicted future catastrophic environmental change if we continued on the fossil gasoline path we have been on. These warnings although clearly given by Chivas and a legion of different environmentalists are nearly totally ignored, bringing us to the important juncture we are actually at. This private discover offered the catalyst for Burnt Out.
Starting in silence, clad in a white boiler go well with, Chivas paces across the stage choosing up matches strewn on the bottom, a mild soundtrack might be discerned within the background, twittering birds, operating water. She then addresses the viewers to clarify the above.
Chivas continues, circling the 2 spotlights forged on the ground, chanting the years and places of notable bushfires. We are additionally handled to renditions of two Australian basic tunes: I Still Call Australia Home and The Road to Gundagai. The tempo builds as does the stress, Chivas then smears herself with black soot from the solitary piece of coal that has been entrance stage all through because the piece reaches its climax.
Chivas has chosen an fascinating and modern technique to current this critical topic, there’s a mixture of spoken phrase, motion, tune and soundtrack. However, the motion sequences are very simplistic and repetitive and don’t convey the onerous felt, highly effective feelings of the subject material. One can’t assist really feel {that a} extra adventurous lighting design and using a larger color palette might have pressured the message extra.
Intriguing, nevertheless it could possibly be a lot extra.
Image: Brian Hartley
