Review by Laura Money
What do you get when you take the big disasters of an era and combine them with the everyday disasters like running out of lip gloss? Some Kind of Disaster explores the intersection of these types of events on young people – taken from actual testimonies from the Riptide youth theatre company. It is an exploration of the theatrical and the trivial and how we are meant to react to events of either magnitude.
The ideas explored range from the indignity of being replaced by a baby sibling, worrying about the safety of one’s father during a terrible bushfire to the whimsical – getting lost for 10 minutes on a popular bush trail. It’s a bold project, perhaps a little too overreaching for so young a troupe. The young actors are passionate and confident, and will be ones to look out for in a few years’ time. As a reviewer, I always find youth art difficult to cover – on one hand I feel that they are good enough for their parents and grandparents, yet shouldn’t go beyond that until they are much older. On the other hand, I say it’s important to fan the flame of youth in the arts, as so many of them can be so terribly discouraged.
Reviewing this in the wider context of FRINGEWORLD 2017, Some Kind of Disaster is almost there – it’s written at a level of high-school drama, acted by impassioned youths with big eyes and loud voices who feel that by swearing it makes the piece somehow more significant. In the context of youth theatre, however these kids are doing great things. They are clearly still learning their craft, but are so invested that their sincerity shines through. There is a sense of camaraderie that seems to get lost as we get older, and an optimistism that bubbles over into the audience.
It’s important to support young people in the arts, and Some Kind of Disaster is the perfect work for contemplating life from a different perspective. Watch this space, because these kids are going places.
When: 31st January – 4th February 2017 | 6:45pm
Where: The Flaming Locomotive | State Theatre Centre WA | PERTH
Tickets: $21
Info: Duration 55 minutes | WA Artist | Suitable 15+
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