The Spaces Between
The Jane Austen Argument
The Jane Austen Argument
22 September 2010
The Butterfly Club
to 25 September
The Butterfly Club
to 25 September
Review By Karla Dondio
What exists in the spaces without love?
An unshakeable self-love.
For someone who recently had their heart broken, I felt like
this show was written and performed just for me. The Spaces Between is a poignant and droll lamentation of what love
doesn’t deliver measured by the void left behind as well as a celebration of
the spaces in between where we find ourselves.
This could easily have been a show pontificating on spatial
relativism as a metaphor for love and loss. But this was never going to be the
case in the consummate hands of the Jane Austen Argument aka Jen Kingwell and
Tom Dickens. As if their name doesn’t suggest an able handling of the context
from the outset.
The Spaces
Between is a stunning piece of cabaret/theatre. It’s clever, candid
and heartfelt punctuated by many fine comedic moments. If only every
writer/performer understood that you have to risk telling the bare bones of
truth to really move an audience. This show does not shy away from humiliating
moments nor does it dip its toes into the sentimental. It was never trying to
be clever for the sake of being clever. It’s simply well written and
proficiently performed, which demonstrates a depth of character you don’t often
see in cabaret.
Both performers have bucket-loads of talent. Dickens has a
voice that wavers between simulating the feeling of a lover’s hand running down
your spine and, all too suddenly, the feeling when this is lost. I’m not
ashamed to say this performer brought a few tears to my eyes.
Kingwell is no slacker either; she’s an accomplished
pianist/songwriter and, when singing in her range, has a beautiful voice in her
own right. This duo work so well together, at times they’re almost mirror
images of each other in a light and shade kind of way. Albeit the banter
between the two seemed slightly staged at times, all is forgiven because it’s
their first show of the fringe season.
If there’s one show you have to see this fringe season it’s
this one. The Spaces Between is the
most exquisite cabaret you’ll ever see, and by far the cheapest therapy session
you’ll ever have to pay for.
