SINFONIA CYMRU: UNEASE | LIVE REVIEW
Jacobs Market, Cardiff, Fri 14 Nov
As the title suggests this isn’t a fluffy affair. The concept is the reaction humans make to noise and sound in unusual settings. A collaboration with Sinfonia Cymru musicians and the BAFTA winning musician Tom Raybould, Unease ran for three days in a created space where the out-of-the-ordinary to unfold.
The setting was the top floor of Jacobs Market, where the incredibly talented musicians rewarded the audience to a sensory thrashing. The sparse space housed a line of chairs with a lone violinist playing repetitive chords until the light above him went out, this is where audience participating came in…well eventually. To begin playing again a sensory pad in front of him needed to be activated by an audience member standing on it, if they got off the light went out and he would stop. This quickly became a swaying on the spot game which my other half completely embraced. This continued with the next five musicians, until a cacophony of sound erupted. Then it stopped.
Next: The audience were guided into a dark room, where bellowing noise, heavy base and disturbing sounds from the musicians filled the room. Flashing strobes, eerie lighting and dark recesses held you in a trance watching and listening as the finale unfolded. This evoked a sense of being in the intro to either Don’t Look Now or The Shining. This was neither frightening nor scary, but unsettling on many levels, and a completely immersive experience.
At 45 minutes, this could easily have been longer, but the skill in creating any experience lies in leaving the audience wanting more, and Unease certainly had the desired effect. Memorable.
words ANTONIA LEVAY