‘Point of Echoes’ Student Review

Back in September our students were fortunate to have the opportunity to watch a private performance of BGroups production ‘Point of Echoes’ before the start of it’s national tour.

Rather than speaking for them, we’ll leave the review to one of our students.

“Point of Echoes is a dance-theatre show commissioned by the Rural Touring Dance Initiative, Warwick Arts Centre and Dance East. It was directed and choreographed by Ben Wright and is about two unlikely strangers who had been stationed at Echo Point Lighthouse when strange occurrences seem to be happening. The style of physical theatre for this particular play was very effective, as expressive movement on a small circular space combined audio and visuals in an aesthetically pleasing way. The aims of the production team were to create an experience for the audience, as well as for the team through combining naturalistic theatre with physical theatre, possibly slightly inspired by Artaud’s theory.

The play was set on a small circular space which displayed the lighthouse. The ramp around it helped to create the sense of space, as it showed the various floors within the house. This idea was taken further, as the actors built upon the stage in particular moments. For example, chairs and a table were put on stage to create the living room. In addition to that, the floor of the main stage was used as a cupboard to hide various props, such as the lighthouses light, which they took out when on deck. This gave a sense of realism and kept the audience interested, as the stage kept changing. This was combined with recorded sound effects such as voiceover, wind and opening door effects which contributed to the overall aesthetic of the play as it evoked the audiences’ imagination.

Meaning was created through the use of conventions and techniques, for example within the narrative. A flashback of Humphries wife falling off the lighthouse was shown through expressive dance movements, creating enigmas for the audience like “who is the woman and what is her character?” and “is this scene set in the past or present”. Especially because the woman portrayed two different characters, a reflection of Humphries wife and a reflection of Erik’s younger brother.

Furthermore, the actors style of performance was very engaging and was used to add depth to the narrative.  For example, in the opening sequence, when Erik had just arrived at the lighthouse, he introduces his character, giving hints to diseases like hypersensitivity through dance choreography, touching and feeling fabrics and objects within the house. This was also effective in introducing the stage to the audience, as we were still unfamiliar with features like the hidden storage space. His autistic side was revealed through recorded sound (voiceover) of his mother’s voice, reading out a letter about Erik, explaining his special needs.

In Conclusion, all aspects of the play contributed to creating a play with interesting lighting, sound, set and character ideas, that kept the audience interested at all times. Another interesting feature of the play was the question and answer session after the actual play, which gave insight information to the play which will be very helpful for devising our own plays, as they elaborated the different stages of the production, e.g. finding stimuli, etc.”

Review By Anouk Devries