A House Across Oceans at SiLo Theatre

By FRANCIS TILL


House is riveting experimental theatre, satisfying in every respect and almost artfully under-produced, giving it an alternative patina.

What's in this mix is a little of everything, decorating and elaborating on a fairly straightforward, if chaotic, autobiographical narrative. The audience is fortunate that the life at the core of the text is interesting enough to sustain the production.

The protagonist, you see, is one of those small number of aerobatic tumblers who electrify audiences by dancing high up on the sides of huge buildings, as author and key performer Beth Kayes did on the Sydney Opera House for the Millennium celebrations and on a 100m-high building for the Sydney Olympics.

Who wouldn't want to know more about someone who does such things? And, as it turns out, the story she tells in House (whether autobiographical, invented, or a bit of both) about the wall-dancer's life at the centre of the play is compelling, even, as she points out, "met, met, metaphorical" in an offhand, non-ponderous manner.

There's a charming incoherence to the production, as well, one that lends credibility since it resembles so closely the shambles any life might present when reduced to highs and lows. But it also means we are given no point of dramatic fixation, no obstacle to overcome or catharsis realised.

What we get instead is a channelled flow from the story of the wall dancer's evolving life to that of her dying grandmother, a richly sounded note on which the production comes to a gripping, enveloping close.

The play's devices are kaleidoscopic, if frequently gratuitous, and vivid, ranging from multimedia through commedia del'arte to puppetry, and a bit of wall dancing.

Kayes is an engaging, frantic, physical and extremely emotive storyteller, as well, which helps even out the thin bits (and the unintelligible ones) and capture one's imagination.

Her partner onstage, Michael Koloi, moves with conviction and energy, adding much to the mix.

House was "devised" by Kayes and director Christian Penny. Some of the production problems with sound, seating and lighting did break the flow, but Kayes quickly puts all derailments back on track immaculately.