Trans-mute

Throughout the show, my eyes kept sliding down to the knees and elbows of the actors looking for marks and bruises. The play's physical intensity operated at a level higher that i was accustomed to that at times I could not tune out the thought that someone might get hurt.

Trans-mute combines elements of butoh and cabaret to create a show that was at times odd, puzzling and violent. 'There is no story here,' I've been told, leaving me, and the audience, to our devices to interpret the chaos onstage.



A band of pink bunnies. A bird-flipping schizopreniac. An Asian popstar.

To say the show has variety would be an understatement. Songs from extremely different genres forms each sequence's core in this 70 minute production, with little, in fact neglible, dialogue. Anyone hoping that the play would be self-explanatory would be greatly disappointed.

In fact, I'm not even sure whether the content is to be understood or just experienced.

Trans-mute is on at Melbourne University's Union House Guild Theatre until 29 May