Volcano | Luke Murphy's Attic Projects
Image: Emilija Jefremova
We have all in one way or another become accustomed to the culture of binge viewing that streaming services like Netflix have proliferated in recent years. We wait with bated breath for the latest seasons of our faves to drop, snuggle up on the couch with our favourite snacks, and barrel our way through eight to twelve episodes of television like it’s nothing. Each episode ends on a vicious cliff-hanger, forcing you to skip the end credits and begin the next as soon as humanly possible. Luke Murphy’s Volcano considers what would happen if that binge-ability was brought out of our lounge rooms and into the theatre.
This show promotes itself as a mystery so I’m going to talk around the story as much as I can here to avoid spoilers. I also went into Volcano having read very little about it and found that this made for an extremely vivid experience. I think discovering the world, the characters, the story as it’s being fed to you is the best way to encounter this work.
Every element of Volcano exquisitely crafted. The choreography, the dialogue, the set, the costume, the soundscapes, the performances, everything works together to provide viewers a rich and complete experience. The work guides the audience towards the solving of its mystery but doesn’t spoon feed it to us, Volcano trusts us to figure it out, and we tried. Each pause as well as the interval was filled with the chatter of my fellow attendees trying to figure out what was going on. No one I overheard managed to put it together, but we all gasped in recognition when the final piece of the puzzle was revealed to us.
Image: Emilija Jefremova
I have found recently that I have had an increasingly difficult time letting myself get lost in the world of the theatre, dance, performance, etc. that I’m watching, which may just be the price one’s pays for operating in this role as commentator. However, I have to say I not been nor seen an audience so enthralled by a piece of performance in quite a while. I was on the edge of my seat from beginning to end, aware that a pause between episodes was coming but still furious when it arrived and that I couldn’t immediately find out what would happen next, and I ravenously consumed every detail of the world as it was laid out before me attempting to solve the mystery of what had happened to these men before the grand reveal.
I knew about ten minutes into the final episode that I would be giving this work a standing ovation and did so with a swiftness I’ve not afforded another work perhaps ever, and my fellow audience members did not hesitate to join me. Haunting, evocative, captivating: Volcano is utterly brilliant, utterly utterly brilliant. Go and book your ticket right now. Go. Get outta here. The review’s done. GO BUY A TICKET.
‘Volcano’ by Luke Murphy's Attic Projects plays at the Powerhouse, New Farm as a part of the 2024 Brisbane Festival until 14 September 2024.
Images supplied by BrisFest
