13: The Play | Legacy Ensemble & Anywhere Festival

The aim of new collective Legacy Ensemble is to take audiences on a journey of discovery that leaves them asking more questions than they get answers. And 13: The Play did just that.

The first show by debut company Legacy Ensemble, 13: The Play combines the art forms of physical theatre, comedy and vignette style storytelling to shine a light of thirteen young people trapped in some kind of imprisonment as they relive their past traumas. Set in a parking lot underneath the night sky, the atmosphere was appropriately raw and stripped back as was the style of storytelling.

Stories explored included racism in schools, toxic relationships, hot dog eating competitions and more heavier topics like child abduction, gang violence in youth and sudden deaths. In each vignette, whichever actors weren’t in focus created the ‘set’ of the scene – which ranged from playground swings, to aeroplanes and a service station – all equally as impressive in their composition.

With so many moving parts, when working in the realm of physical theatre, things can quickly become messy. Pacing can be lost, awareness of the ensemble can falter when there is a massive cast. However, this work didn’t fall into any of these pitfalls.

Each of the thirteen performers seamlessly snapped between different set pieces and characters, sometimes even mid-sentence and didn’t miss a beat. In a split second, one actor could be a young child complaining to their parents and in the next breath, they were a gang member. Similarly, one actor could be a part of a car and in the next breath, they could be a part of a doctor’s waiting room; each transition as seamless as the last.

13: The Play is a profound of exploration of the vulnerabilities of young people. Eager to see what work this next collective creates next.