Cabaret Festival review: And Then You Go – The Vali Myers Project

And Then You Go – The Vali Myers Venture  is the newest creation of award-winning musical director, composer, cabaret artist, theatre-maker and multi-instrumentalist Victoria Falconer. Native audiences could have seen Falconer carry out in Adelaide Fringe and Pageant exhibits, together with the 2021 Slingsby and State Theatre Firm co-production The Boy Who Talked To Canine which is able to later this 12 months tour to regional SA.

A few years in the past, Falconer grew to become fascinated with Australian artist Vali Myers and the truth that she stays ignored regardless of serving as inspiration to an extended record of well-known creatives over many a long time.

Myers (1930-2003) lived life precisely as she happy. Captivated with dancing and drawing since childhood, she set sail for Europe on the age of 19 – an age when younger Australian ladies had been anticipated to slot in with the societal expectations of marriage and motherhood. That was not the life for Myers; as a substitute she embraced a vagabond existence on the streets of Paris, mixing with the likes of Jean-Paul Sartre, Tennessee Williams and Jean Genet.

Within the late Fifties, after travels via Europe, Myers made a house deep in a hidden valley in Positano, Southern Italy. Right here, she immersed herself in her artwork apply whereas caring for a rising menagerie of wildlife together with owls, ravens and foxes – creatures she celebrated in daring tattoos on her face and palms. From the Seventies to the Nineteen Nineties, journeys overseas had been a chance to promote her intricate drawings (painstakingly constructed in ink, watercolour and gold leaf) and blend with artists, musicians and writers. Her final years had been spent between Positano and a studio in Melbourne, the place she lastly discovered an viewers for her work within the land of her start.

Falconer created And Then You Go with the help of funds acquired through the Frank Ford Commissioning Award, which commissions new South Australian cabaret works to be carried out by native artists on the Adelaide Cabaret Pageant.

The ensemble solid summons impressions of Myers’ wild life via motion, dance, tune, circus, puppetry and richly colored lighting results. On a big white cloth backdrop, animated projections of her artwork and writing present context for parts of the on-stage motion, and at occasions we hear her voice through brief snippets of audio recordings.

Singer and dancer Parvyn Kaur Singh is a part of the multi-disciplinary solid of And Then You Go. Picture: Claudio Raschella

5 of the performers (together with Falconer) painting Myers – every sporting layers of unique cloth, facial tattoos and a mass of tangled pink hair – in gloriously over-the-top costuming that pays homage to the artist’s distinctive model.

And Then You Go options unique music and songs with types swirling via jazz, rock and psychedelia. A few of the quieter compositions and people with singing in unison are significantly efficient at invoking the depths of the artist’s struggles.

The 2-level stage space is ready with an array of musical devices starting from keyboards, violin, double bass and accordion, to percussion gadgets such because the cuíca, güiro, shekere and kalimba. With 9 performers on stage always, there’s a lot to have a look at, however (aside from just a few scenes the place there’s a bit an excessive amount of taking place) this contributes to the multi-layered journey throughout time and areas.

Viewers members already acquainted with the story of Vali Myers would possibly join extra simply with the present than those that haven’t but been launched to her work. To assist with this, there’s a small exhibition wall within the Area Theatre lobby – taking time to go to this earlier than taking a seat will improve the expertise.

And Then You Go is an unpredictable, uncategorisable, typically uncooked and sometimes hauntingly stunning celebration of a life lived with out compromise. Should you’re prepared for a visit to elements unknown, that is the present for you.

And Then You Go – The Vali Myers Venture is being carried out on the Area Theatre till June 25 as a part of the 2022 Adelaide Cabaret Pageant.

See all InReview’s protection of the 2022 Cabaret Pageant right here.

This text is supported by the Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Concepts.