Patch Theatre The Lighthouse | Review
Patch Theatre Director, Geoff Cobham and his team have created The Lighthouse, a unique series of light installations which are beautiful and mesmerising.
The historic Queens Theatre has been divided into a series of rooms, each housing a different light installation. There is a sense of anticipation and intrigue as the audience moves from room to room, guided by performers who gently interact with them and in turn, encourage them to interact with the light.
In some rooms, the performers direct lasers onto the ground to form patterns while in others, audience members are given an object which either emits light or projects light.
Children in particular, enjoyed using mirrors to reflect light around the room, and twirling string lights to create patterns.
In one room, an actor in a large, illuminated, oversized dress makes eye contact with each audience member and then rolls a glowing light ball down to the ground through plastic tubes attached to her dress. She beckons them to grab the ball and although there is a strong element of interaction with audience members, it is subtle and non-confronting. For those who love to be involved, the performers also ensure that no-one misses out, which makes this experience really special.
Several rooms have stools, allowing audience members to sit and observe special light displays, while other rooms allow the audience to freely move about and choose whether to interact or stand back and just watch younger children delight in the sensory experience.
In a central room, coloured light beams from above play onto the floor creating a series of moving shapes and colours. The audience is then free to use the small hand mirrors provided to reflect the light onto the black curtains, follow the light rings around the room, jump in them, run and even dance. The younger members of the audience had so much fun and it was lovely to see them become completely engaged and enjoying the beautiful colours, patterns and movement of the light.
Patch Theatre has been very thoughtful about so many aspects of the presentation of these installations. Several of the rooms are quite small, however audience numbers have been deliberately kept small meaning that no-one’s vision is obscured and everyone has room to move within the spaces.
Some of the spaces provided fascinating light “shows” using different objects, lasers, torches and beams. In one room, light sticks dropped slowly to the ground and a giant bubble was recreated continually reflecting the light sticks in beautiful patterns which drew excited gasps from younger audience members.
The Lighthouse is a unique sensory experience which moves away from traditional theatre and offers the audience an opportunity to engage and use their imagination freely. We thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience and highly recommend people go and experience The Lighthouse for themselves.
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For more information and all enquiries please visit the Adelaide Festival website.
What: The Lighthouse – Review
When: Closes Saturday 7 March 2020
Where: Queen’s Theatre | Playhouse Ln &, Gilles Arcade, Adelaide
Who: Recommended for ages 3+
At Play & Go Adelaide we make every effort to provide accurate information to the best of our knowledge at the time of publication. We recommend confirming times, dates and details directly before making any plans as details may be subject to change.
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