AK09 review: The Andersen Project at the Aotea Centre

The Andersen Project. Photo / Supplied

The Andersen Project by Robert Lepage's Ex Machina company provides ample confirmation of Lepage's reputation as the undisputed master of modern imagistic theatre. A stunning procession of visual effects displays a playful, childlike inventiveness combined with highly sophisticated use of technology and finely honed craft skills. It is a rare combination that convincingly explains how Lepage has established himself as such as influential presence in contemporary theatre.

What separates him from many of his imitators is an ability to weave spectacular images into a coherent narrative while maintaining the human presence that differentiates theatre from the movies. The interaction between movie projections and an actor taking on multiple roles seductively echoed the virtual reality of computer gaming.

The show opens with a hooded graffiti artist stepping into the backdrop and spray painting over a projected portrait of Hans Christian Andersen. Later we are transported on a high speed train, treated to a nite-club laser light show and taken inside the Paris Opera to witness the remarkable sight of an arts entrepreneur climbing a marble staircase that moves beneath his feet.

The high tech effects were impressively matched by the simplest of theatrical devices a quivering length of dog leash brilliantly established the mischievous presence of a highly animated pooch, traditional puppetry was employed to narrate Andersen's stories and one of the most moving sequences relied on simple shadow play created with a bedside lamp.

But while the show delivered a mesmerising smorgasbord of visual treats there was little evidence of Lepage's highly acclaimed talent as an epic storyteller.

The narrative has the magical world of Andersen's fairy-tales juxtaposed with quotidian details from the personal life of a Canadian writer who is participating in an international collaborative effort to create an opera out of Andersen's little known story The Dryad.

The performance by Lepage's collaborator Yves Jacques offers some shrewd observations on the politics and personalities of the art world that are nicely delivered with an ironical Woody Allen-style humour.

The banality and self-absorption of an art world soap-opera serves to highlight the anarchic imagination of Andersen's stories. But the balance is skewed in favour of the contemporary story and when stretched over two hours, the banality of the art world makes for banal theatre.