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The Return Theatre Company Nottle Eclipse, FringeHUB, Feb 22 - 13 March What I love about the Fringe and Festival is that the world comes to us and saves me heaps in air fare. Unfortunately, there only appears to be one Asian offering. ‘The Return,’ is a derivative of Bertolt Brecht’s ‘Legend Of The Dead Soldier’ performed by a passionate and dedicated decade-old traveling troupe from Korea, Theatre Company Nottle. The company’s objective is to develop a theatrical language that reaches across cultural barriers to touch our common humanity. To this end, Won Young Oh directs his adaptation with an emphasis on mime, music, dance and body language. What we get, though, is an outdated style that we saw performed by Eastern European companies while on tour from behind the Iron Curtain. In the initial scenes, the Stanislavski method of acting is abused with lengthy grimaces of pain and confusion, wild grins and inhuman vocals. It’s only in the latter part of the production that we are touched by a number of actors communicating individuals’ psyches. The disoriented man commits suicide and his body is dressed up as a soldier by the corrupt state for a tribute to the war effort. The highlight was the macabre wake where a young lady performed a psychotic dance while leading the corpse around with wrist ropes. Hot white criss-crossing spots and smoke dramatically lit the bare stage throughout the show. Unless you are a fan of Brecht, Stanislavski or Korea, you might find this proclaimed brave new world of theatre a bit old hat, or even tedious. But the heart - the love of craft - which this company has is palpable, and to be touched by their discipline, enthusiasm and warmth is worth the ticket. |
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