"Thursday" by Borderline Arts Ensemble Review - Natasha Thyne on Theatreview
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Review of “Thursday” by Natasha Thyne for Theatreview https://www.theatreview.org.nz/reviews/review.php?id=11506
I wish Thursday was longer. Not something I would typically say but in the case of Thursday by the Boarderline Arts Ensemble, Friday can wait.
A small audience is already gathered in the foyer of the Wellington Railway Station. Gentle piano music begins to play as the two dancers, Emmanuel Reynaud and Hannah Tasker-Poland, emerge through the crowd to take their place on the tiled floor.
They begin their pas de deux, their movements fluid and graceful as they move singularly and together around the floor, their simple brown trench coats flowing, an extension of their movements.
As described on the Performance Arcade website Thursday, inspired by the 1945 classic Brief Encounter, creates a brief encounter – 12 minutes to be exact - with the arts for Wellington’s unsuspecting public.
More of a crowd starts to form as those unsuspecting commuters become aware of the show, expertly choreographed Borderline's Artistic Director Lucy Marinkovich.
A couple of young girls whisper behind me; ‘they are so strong, so beautiful.” And that they are, especially when together moving as one, both taking turns lifting and spinning each other.
The railway station is a stunning venue. There is no flashy set or lighting but the dancers are so mesmerising you don’t even notice the mundane ordinariness around (like people sneaking in and out of the key and luggage store). The regular loudspeaker announcements enhance the soundscape and add to the narrative of the lovers’ time together running short, eventually having to go their separate ways.
And just like that, Thursday is over. The dancers walk off into the masses, one through the front doors and the other with the commuters to the train platform.
The crowd disperses. The train to Johnsonville departs.
Brief but beautiful, Thursday is one for the diaries.