I need a drink, a cry, a sleep or a dance before I can begin a coherent response, but can I simply say that the reason why people like me criticise theatre is because theatre this exquisite exists.
At the end I was somehow emotionally wrung out and elated. (Make sure you have tissues.)
My friends and I couldn't stop talking about what we'd just experienced.
There were times when the audience were barely breathing and I've never seen a whole room gets to its feet in such unison to cheer.
LePage and company were last in Melbourne in 2010 with The Blue Dragon. I loved it and didn't understand the criticism of other reviews. Now I do, and if I'd seen Dragon after experiencing Lipsynch, I'd have been disappointed.
Yes, it's nine hours, but so is a day at work or nine eps of a TV series. There are plenty of breaks and I swear there was no one in that audience who wouldn't have happily sat for another nine hours.
Yes, it's expensive, but the cheaper tickets aren't much more than the MTC or the opera and it's like comparing a Fredo Frog to a hand-made Belgium chocolate decorated with gold leaf.
If you're involved in making theatre or telling stories in any way, do what you can to see this show, even if it's just to understand why critics are happy to criticise.
Lipsynch is on at the State Theatre, Melbourne Arts Centre tomorrow at 1pm and next Saturday and Sunday. Details here.
Arts Centre, with so many empty seats (shame on you Melbourne), is there something that can be done to get our arts community into them?
review
