Following the popularity of her previous work If there’s not dancing at the revolution I’m not coming in 2017, New Zealand performance artist Julia Croft returns to Perth Fringe World to challenge audiences with her new feminist work Power Ballad.
Inspiration for the work comes from a quote by American author Kathy Acker “I am looking for a language which exists outside patriarchal definitions. Of course that is not possible. But who is any longer interested in the possible?” Power Ballad will no doubt be one of the most engaging, exciting, smart and yes, challenging 50 minutes at the 2018 Perth Fringe World Festival.
Croft enters the stage from the darkness, semi naked, dancing with a microphone. This microphone acts as the ultimate prop for Croft, phallic symbol swinging from a cord wrapped around her body, chalk to furiously write her lecture notes across the walls, then with the aid of an effects pedal she unsettles her audience with experimental sounds, distortions, loops and voice manipulations.
Croft is filled with rage, railing against the status quo and urging the audience to discern “fact from feeling” and engage with the world differently. Power Ballad certainly succeeds in offering a new stage experience, where lines are blurred between Performance Art and Theatre. Skilful direction by co-creator Nisha Madhan provides Power Ballad with just enough structure, unobtrusive and allowing the audience to place complete faith in Croft to guide them on this journey. The microphone is soon turned towards the audience in a gesture that asks are we ready to find our voice? Cue the karaoke.
So what does an audience that is now hyper aware of the hidden ideologies in everyday language do in this situation? It proves difficult to not cast a critical eye over each lyric and while not immediately conducive to a singalong, the audience do find their voice, singing their own Power Ballad with Annie Lennox on back-up vocals.
Croft ensures this bold work is a must see with her creative intellect and theatrical know-how front and centre. Croft delights us continuously, shifting her characterisations beyond costume changes, to perfectly adapt from alien voiced, androgynous truth sayer to memorably close the performance as the dreamy-eyed, earnest pop ballad princess with a “wind machine”. This work is intelligent and handled with equal parts humour and ferocity.
Power Ballad plays until Saturday 3rd February at The Blue Room Theatre. Tickets can be purchased at https://fringeworld.com.au/whats_on/power-ballad-fw2018
Mark Shooter – Theatre Now & On The Town
