Who can forget the Chilean miner’s crisis? Trapped underground for 69 painful days, before being winched to the surface in a NASA designed capsule. An amazing story – and an amazing performance.
The Wardrobe Ensemble take a glimpse into what may or may not have gone on during those 69 days and nights, based on newspaper reports, TV interviews and their own experiences. They use a combination of music, dialogue, physical theatre and film to create a compelling show, which entertains just as much as it poses questions. They cover all the major events: the collapse, the bad news, the hope, family relationships, psychological intervention, ways to pass the time, what they ate, where they peed and the fallout for one particular miner.
Physical theatre is used to great effect throughout, evoking every feeling from claustrophobia to euphoria. The use of (very clever) multimedia gels well with the intensity of the performance and the live music enhances the experience. The map of the mine and drilling area shows the enormity of the problem and generates more awe; the use of the torch on the screen and the way that characters seem to climb in and out of it are spellbinding; the video hook-up with the men is also eerily realistic. Only the ghost of Elvis seems out of place. These moments of humour feel like a cruel invasion of someone’s sanity; the incorporation of David Letterman’s interview with Edison lending some (un)reality to the story, yet also shows how far we stoop to be entertained. Coincidentally (or not), the theme of ethics is also examined in the plot. As the bizarre methods of the psychologist engaged to work with the men underground, unfold, we question who had whose best interests at heart.
Aside from media views on what happened, the cast also include us and our opinions, into the performance. That is us, the audience at home, who watched with helpless wonder as the story unfolded on the news. Everyone was touched.
