Bird’s Eye View is the latest work from Rob Murray’s theatre collective From the Hip : Khulumakahle (a conspiracy of clowns). It won the AFDA Best Production Award last year. Their story telling techniques and the sophistication of their narrative alphabet has come a long way since their first tentative steps with another environmental work Touch Wood. Yet, Bird’s doesn’t quite live up to the expectations created by their last production, Water Pockets, a beguiling mix of gentle clowning and open, straightforward dialogue.
Murray possesses a fervent imagination that sometimes trips over his narrative structure. As a result, the show suffers from too many endings, a common enough pitfall in this kind of saga. It unfolds episodically according to a formulaic (yet satisfying) adventure story logic. Though too predictable and frenetic for the theatre, it would be wholly successful in the cinema. Towards the end, various satirical reference are suddenly introduced, which are humorous, sometimes corny, but don’t sit comfortably with the fantasy world already established.
There is certainly no lack of commitment to the work from energetic physical theatre performers Porteus Xandau (Spike) and Keenan Arrison (Tjurp). They play two daredevil weaverbirds who must dice with death to save the world suffering the effects of global warming and rapacious fast food corporations. It will work best as young people’s theatre.
The choreography is as tight as ever, and the two actors equally and well matched. The Achilles heal however is the forced accents and the decision to caricature the parts. The intention is to clown, but unfortunately the effect is to falsify the emotions and flatten the work. The environmental message didn’t quite go over when I found myself wishing for a pellet gun.
