already elsewhere, 2005

Already Elsewhere, Force Majeure

photo Branco Gaica

Already Elsewhere, Force Majeure

Sudden, unexpected events, accidents, the accumulation of fear brought on by irrational obsessions, the inability to let go of the moment when everything changed. In a place where grief becomes a way of life, life still has a way of going on.

Already Elsewhere is set on the roof of a submerged house surrounded by grass—a time capsule of buried histories. Did the roof land there? Was the house buried? What disastrous event brought this about? Seven people, seemingly unrelated, emerge on the scene each haunted by unexplainable events. A man obsessed by his role in a fatal accident…A woman bewildered by the sudden disappearance of her child…A young woman’s growing paranoia of everyday life…The guilty survivor…Why her and not her friends? The man who doesn’t trust anyone, anywhere…He doesn’t even trust the dead.

The cast of actors and dancers take command of the show’s material with equal physical and theatrical skill, negotiating the steep incline of the roof with fatalistic determination. The roof is multifaceted, at once benign and playful it also acts as a projection surface relaying images in real time that occur ‘out of sight’ to the naked eye. Finally it erupts tile by tile as an explosive metaphor to a life lived in fear.

Already Elsewhere’s aesthetics pays homage to the work of renowned American photographer Gregory Crewdson. Ingeniously designed (both lighting and set) by Geoff Cobham, this intensely atmospheric work mixes idyllic suburban states with the heightened world of unexpected disaster. With text by the acclaimed Sydney writer Brendan Cowell, sound and music composition by the versatile Paul Charlier and direction by resident artistic director/choreographer Kate Champion, Force Majeure has created a work of world class dance-theatre that doesn’t shy away from exploring the disturbing symptoms of our chronic post-September 11 state of fear. In 2005, Already Elsewhere received the Australian Dance Award for Outstanding Performance by a Company.” (Text courtesy of Force Majeure.)

credits: director Kate Champion, performers Fiona Cameron, Sarah Jayne Howard, Kirstie McCracken, Veronica Neave, Nathan Page, Byron Perry, Lee Wilson, Tom Hodgson, designer (set and lighting) Geoff Cobham, composer, sound designer Paul Charlier, writer Brendan Cowell, assistant director Lisa Ffrench, artistic associate Roz Hervey; tour to Lyon, performer Narelle Benjamin

performances: premiere Sydney Festival, January 2005; Biennale de la Danse, Lyon, September 2006

Already Elsewhere, Force Majeure