Review-Death by Chocolate-Voxfire Gallery
27-10-12
By: Meaghan McGurgan
When I found out about Death by Chocolate I was intrigued by the show description. "A sensorial feast for the dead, don’t forget to wear all black or funeral attire." A show in Hong Kong with free flow champagne, candy and a dress code? Sign me up! Although I'm not the biggest fan of performance art in general I was excited about seeing this show because I love candy and Theatre of the Absurd.
And Theatre of the Absurd it was. Performed by three beautiful ladies; Kate March, Muriel Hoffman and Giselle Liu; they perform a ritual suicide in the first ten minutes, take you through the seven stages of grief in an hour, wear delightful Japanese inspired costumes and dance some beautifully choreographed modern dances. Where the show falls apart is in the execution of the speaking portion as most of the dialogue and audience interactions came across contrived rather than from an inspired moment in the piece. I did have to say that one moment of the dialogue that was truly inspired was "Muriel, you look really pretty dead..." Genius. And something I've heard at almost every funeral I've attended.
The sound design is well executed. I personally loved it as I spent two years in Lousisiana in grad school and find that New Orleans jazz is the perfect sound track to all things death inspired. The AV design is also beautiful and could be shown as something seperate from the piece in an art gallery.
One of the strongest elements of the piece though is the blending of the AV design with the shadow play created by the performers with the projector. With all the ladies being trained dancers they were excellent at finding ways to use such a tiny space to make large impact with their bodies.
Now, if you're an audience member who doesn't like their "bubble" popped this is NOT the show for you. The Voxfire Gallery holds about 25 audience members making it a very intimate experience and there is a very good chance you're going to end up with a dancer in your personal space or in your lap declaring you Jesus. Conservative audiences who prefer shows with traditional characters, plots and themes would probably not enjoy Death by Chocolate but a braver audience member who appreciates things that are new and inventive would most likely appreciate it for its bravery and stunning visuals.
And you can't beat the price tag. It's 200HKD with free flow champagne and chocolate included. Reservations are needed though. So if you plan on going tomorrow before the Halloween festivities in LKF make sure you RSVP. It's about an hour long so get buzzed on some bubbles and enjoy some art before going out on the town.
Death by Chocolate is playing at Voxfire Gallery through October 27th. For more information please click here.
Comments
Kenneth
Saw the show last night. Didn't like the projector light was in my eyes for the whole show.
27 October 2012Dana
Another great review meaghan!
27 October 2012Kate
Thanks for coming Meaghan. Would have loved to chat with you after the show. The show changes every night according to the audience's energy. Kenneth, the second evening we changed the seating so the projection light was less invasive. We love experimenting and Voxfire Gallery is a great venue for us to be able to do this! x
28 October 2012
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