Voyeurism in Subiaco

As part of the Perth International Arts Festival a production La Marea is being performed in Subiaco's Rokeby Road and acts unfold behind the glass fronts of shops, cafes and homes. The event is taking place from Feb 14 - 17 but tonight was the night for a technical run to iron out any glitches that might present, and so I grabbed my camera and went for an after dinner stroll to check it out.

At the far end of the cordoned off street section there was a simulated motorbike accident, with the victim sprawled across the road. I had a chat with the actor beforehand and found that all of the actors were from Perth and he had to audition for the role. He had a couple of 'blood' capsules in his hand and was yet to decide how he was going to use this prop...bleeding from his mouth, his head, his ear...His motorbike was astride the median strip and he had to crawl across the road to his helmet...some few metres, and take 10 minutes to do so. The "act" would last 10 minutes and then would be repeated several times over the two hours between 8 - 10pm. Projected onto the road was his story, also the story of the motorbike, the mechanic who had worked on it etc.

Next a couple standing in an entry to a shop ...kissing....with subtitles about different kinds of kisses: first kiss, long kiss, kiss goodbye, passionate kiss...and so on. Next shop was fitted out as a bedroom with a woman making her way to bed and subtitles projected above the window were of her thoughts and indicated that she was feeling dissatisfied with her situation of being a single 40 year old. Venetian blinds at the window gave the effect that you were taking a 'sneak peak' into a private life.

And so it went...several different acts in several different spots along the street until we came to this chap. The story is that he has been chatting to a woman on the internet and they have arranged to meet here. She hasn't shown up and as the time passes and he paces back and forth his story changes...he starts out confident and looking forward to the meeting, he waits and waits, his confidence starts to wane, he lights a cigarette, he ends feeling rejected and a failure. Who's been there, done that!!

Argentinean writer-director Mariano Pensotti is behind the innovative project, which translates to 'the tide' and has been performed in various cities around the world. While the Argentinian model of the work remains the same he adapts it to resonate with local audiences.

I enjoyed the creativity, being out in the evening, viewing it without a crowd...Gaby enjoyed the walk.