The Weight – The Complex – Review

The Depot | 08/11/2023 – 11/11/2023
Find out more about Luca Truffarelli on this website here.

Described as an immersive dance piece, the setting for this production was a little different from the norm.  As you entered the theatre, you could see little in the murky light.  The floor of the theatre was black, with a square shape marked out in white lines in the centre of the theatre. This was the space where the dancer would perform with the small audience standing and sitting on four sides.

The performance started with the dancer moving through the audience, before taking her place ‘centre stage’.  The movement started slow with the performer moving around the outside of the space, miming that she was pulling and gathering something from the ground before throwing it up into the air, like she was gathering crops. This motion continued around all four sides of the box before another motion took its place.

This is a new dance production created by Luca Truffarelli, in collaboration with Oona Doherty and the Performer Erin O’Reilly.  While Luca has been involved with the world of dance for many years in various roles, this is his first time as a choreographer.  Up until this point, he is mainly known for photography and videography so this is quite a change.

The production has a series of quite different segments. The next major section involves a sophisticated drinks party with waitresses serving Bloody Marys to the audience while the performer moves around the space, making small talk and witty quips to members of the audience.  She wears a white blouse, trousers and high heels. The only thing wrong is that she has poured a Bloody Mary over her head and white shirt, and the tomato juice slowly drips down her face!

This was an interesting and unusual event.  The line between dance and performance is often blurred and this production crossed the barriers into mime and acting.  It kept the audience off guard,  not allowing them to disappear into the background as we are all complicit in the issues it was discussing,  The piece is interested in the rights of workers and the disparity between those with money and wealth and those without. The direction your life will take is largely decided by where and when you were born. It’s a thoughtful and unusual night of performance, that forces the audience outside their comfort zone.

Creator/Director: Luca Truffarelli
Performer: Erin O’Reilly
Choreographic Collaboration: Oona Doherty, Erin O’Reilly

Composition: Greg Haines
Music recorded by The RTÉ Concert Orchestra, conducted by Gavin Maloney
With brief appearances by Jessie Thompson and Saoirse Lambkin O’Kane
Stage Manager – Marella Boschi
Lighting Design: Roberto Baldinelli
Lighting Associate: John Gunning
Costume Design: Valentina Gambardella
Set Design: Luca Truffarelli, Stefano & Roberto Baldinelli, Cristina Ferretti
Sound Design: Luca Truffarelli, Uriel Ireland Rabinad
Producers: Maura O’Keeffe, Orla Flanagan
Line Producer: Michael-Anthony Greene
Production Assistant: Ilinca Luca
Set Construction: Showscope Ltd