Chelsea McGuffin and David Carberry of circus ensemble ‘Company 2’ team up with junk percussionist Ben Walsh in their dark new production 'Sediment'.
“We always try to do something a bit outside of the norm on a purely skill level. Also the way in which we try to frame it is unique. I think we have developed a real language over the years with our aesthetic and the way in which we frame those skills. We try to create a real, tangible atmosphere and a world that you are invited into. That detail goes all the way through the physical skill to the costumes and the music. It's those two elements that we try to draw on and what I would call the unique experience,” David explains.
As well as starring in the show, it is David's directorial debut. “It's a bit more responsibility, a bit more control. Ultimately [the director] has the vision and the final say but there’s a certain amount of collaboration that goes on in that process as well.”
The production features a small performance space and only three performers throughout.“It’s a lot more intimate. With only three of us on stage, as an audience member you get a lot more time to know us as performers and as people and characters. It gives us more time to play on that within each other and develop those relationships, as opposed to having ten people on stage where there is a limited amount of time to do that. Given that Chelsea and I have been partners in work and life for nearly eight years, and I've known Ben for even longer and have worked with him on two previous shows, there’s a lot of our own personal relationships to build on.”
Ben Walsh provides the musical accompaniment to the production, and is known for using a combination of weird and wonderful objects to make music.
“In 'Sediment' he plays a Theremin, a typewriter, some bowls and this weird stringed instrument on a table; a whole range of strange and unexpected things, which create a really beautiful musical soundtrack. He's a phenomenally talented musician and a great improviser. When you watch him you get really sucked into that and he really draws you in and all of a sudden you're taken on this journey with him. With his history in junk percussion and being a little bit on the fringes and a little bit different fits in well with this piece.”
The production takes inspiration from Dostoyevsky's 'Notes From Underground'. David describes what it was about the novella that appealed to him.“It instantly grabbed me because I am the kind of person who likes to analyse and brood and think. The whole first half of the book is someone who is doing that: pondering and questioning. It made me question my own thought patterns and my own decisions, how I really function around other people and the choices I make.”
Chelsea and David express their relationship very candidly through their performance. “In terms of the work that Chelsea and I do it's a loving but also an aggressive and volatile relationship played out physically. And to me, that seems really full of these interesting questions about why we sometimes choose to push away the people we love or deliberately put ourselves in a situation that we know is going to be bad.”‘Company 2’ always endeavour to push the limits of performance and attempt the seemingly impossible to give their show a dangerous edge. “There are a couple of tricks in the show where some of my friends and colleagues I was training with asked 'why would you ever go for that trick? No ones ever done it, it’s going to be so hard and you're going to hurt yourself so many times trying to do it! Just do something easier!' And I go 'No, I'm gonna go for it!' I want to push myself in that direction even though my brain and the notions of science are telling me that it’s a terrible idea!”
The circus company's last production, 'Scotch And Soda' was the toast of the Brisbane Festival, but David, Chelsea and Ben want to take an entirely new tack with 'Sediment'.
“With ‘Scotch And Soda’ we wanted to make something that was really loud and full on and had a real party atmosphere, where people could go and have a good time, and we weren't really asking anything more than that. We all really enjoyed doing that but there’s a part of us all as artists that made us want to push ourselves in a slightly different direction and take a bit of a sideways step. We want to ride that boundary between what's entertaining but also offering something interesting and unique as an experience.”
‘Sediment’ plays at the Judith Wright Centre from the 4th to the 8th November. 
