Review: The Chronicles
Picture: The Chronicles (All images: Daniel Boud. NOT A Creative Futures Photography image).
I could just sum up the experience of watching the latest Stephanie Lake Company work, The Chronicles, in one word: wow. But I feel that readers might just demand a few reasons as to why wow.
The promotional material and program suggest that The Chronicles has a ‘womb to tomb’ story arc, which is clearly signposted with the opening and closing movements. As with all of our lives, the moments in between our ‘first and last’ are impressions and highly personal perspectives. In The Chronicles, I feel that Lake—working closely together with the dancers, composer, and designers—offers audiences images that reflect individual experiences, reminding us of what a true gift living can be. And how very hard life can be.
The Stephanie Lake Company has brought together a fantastic team of creatives for this show. Robin Fox’s electro-acoustic score is incredible, enhancing a moving opening and close, and capturing the driving, stirring—and occasionally overpowering—rhythms of life. The soundscape also incorporates moments of beauty set to the on-stage youthful vocals of Brisbane’s Voices of Birralee (Jenny Moon, Conductor). Charles Davis’s set design is deceptively simple, with an elevated elysian meadow at the rear of the stage that is mainly used by the vocalists, through to the wide expanse of the stage on which the dancers work their magic. And Bosco Shaw’s lighting design plays a key part in the success of The Chronicles—with the opening and closing moments of solitude, sympathetic lighting of the children’s choir, creation of individual ‘boxes’ in a later movement, and the autumnal ‘hay’ scene (of which, more later).
But it is the dancers who are the true stars of The Chronicles, bringing to life a work that is at times exuberant, confronting, tender, breathless, controlled, unrestrained, cathartic, powerful, and exciting (Stepanie Lake Company Dancers Max Burgess, Rachel Coulson, Tra Mi Dinh, Tyrel Dulvarie, Marni Green, Ashley McLellan, Darci O’Rourke, Harrison Ritchie-Jones, Robert Tinning, Georgia Van Gils, Kimball Wong, and Jack Ziesing). Yes, I am sure that everyone had a dancer whose moves held them spellbound, but each performer had their moment in the spotlight and together they ensured that it was often a little difficult to know where to look.
Images that will stay with me from The Chronicles begin with the powerful opening scene, where a soloist unfurls, grows and transforms from an incubating foetus (think of those baby scans that are so proudly shared) into the frenzy of light, sound and movement of the full cast. But I could equally have chosen the powerful downstage shout, the manic movements of the ‘metro crowds’ across the stage, the sensuality of the duets, and the acrobatic lifts and balances of the ensemble. And, as the scenes are enhanced with several costume changes, I’d highlight the powerful and almost confronting movement where each of the dancers swirled, connected and postured in pleated skirts (Harriet Oxley, Costume Designer).
As the work moves towards the inevitability of death, the movement that begins with the unravelling of cylindrical hay bales in the autumnal ‘sunshine’—another special element of Bosco Shaw’s lighting design—is one to look forward to. I was engrossed by the dancers’ gleeful separation of the pieces of ‘hay’ as they then threw the material across the stage, playfully using it to suggest the childlike fun that can be found in play and connection. As this movement draws to a close, we sense the winter of life, with the single remaining dancer left gasping for breath under the pile of ‘straw’ and we hear the opening words of the final song.
Alphaville’s poignant Forever Young, was particularly special: excellent vocals, beautifully staged and lit, and fantastic interpretation by the vocalist, choreographer and dancer. I found myself hanging on every word of a song that begins ‘let's dance in style, let's dance for a while.’ Placing solo vocalist Oliver Mann in the raised grassy area at the back of the stage, looking down on the dancers’ dying close, was a moving way in which to bring down the light and curtain on this show.
Stephanie Lake has created several works that have been included in recent Brisbane Festival menus. Two years ago, I was fortunate to experience Lake’s Salamander, an immersive, epic promenade dance work that was ‘the’ ticket at the 2023 Brisbane Festival. Seated in the comfort of the fabulous Thomas Dixon auditorium at the end of The Chronicles, I reflected on the way in which Lake continues to dream big, by contemplating vital aspects of our lived experiences and the challenges of our shared existence. In a mere 75 minutes, The Chronicles reminds us of the cycle of our lives: of the frenzied ‘running to stand still’ work, but also of the moments of beauty, tenderness, and connection… and the inevitability of our final breath. I cannot wait to see where the Stephanie Lake Company takes us next.
Picture: The Chronicles (All images: Daniel Boud. NOT A Creative Futures Photography image).
Audience information: The Chronicles, Thomas Dixon Centre, 406 Montague Rd, West End (10-13 September 2025). 70 minutes, no interval. This production contains flashing lights, loud and dynamic sounds, and some use of theatrical haze. Suggest 12+. Tickets $55-69.
Additional Credits: Beth Raywood Cross (Producer), Emily O'Brien (Production Manager), Paea Leach (Rehearsal Director and Bodywork Therapist), Rhys Pottinger (Associate Lighting Designer and Console Programmer), James Wilkinson (Sound Engineer), Lyndie Li Wan Po (Stage Manager), Renee Heron (Choir Consultant), Jo Foley, Fiona Holley, Emma Ikin, and Kym Yeow (Costume Makers),
Additional music credit: Ah Poor Bird (trad, arranged by Robin Fox)
The reviewer attended the Friday 12th September performance (7:00pm).
A version of this review first appeared at Nothing Ever Happens in Brisbane.