Wrest is new production by Red Leap Theatre that seems to be a hybrid mix of dance and theatre with some dialogue and plenty of interpretive movement. It has a gothic feel to it with sombre and energetic music and the use of moody lighting in many of the scenes that play out across its 75 minutes.
In a very early scene, a naked woman is wheeled to centre stage by a man. The stage is dark with a red light illuminating her back. The man picks up a scalpel and removes something from her body. We don’t know what it is, but there is blood. Another scene follows in which a woman is lying on the ground moaning in pain. So kicks off a surreal journey with some moments that seem real but many of them filled with mystery.
Some of those moments include a repeating scene of the woman eating breakfast, her husband going off to work and then the walls coming closer to her. This repeats a few times during the show with each repetition becoming a little more unsettling and bizarre.
One recurring motif is some kind of police investigation – but is this a murder or something else they are investigating? The woman then embarks on a journey to see ‘past lives’ in some sort of otherworldly coat check. She bears witness to past events including the first date she had with her husband.
At least that’s what I think was going on. It was all so dreamlike and fanciful it’s pretty hard to know if like me, you don’t read the playbill before seeing a show.
As the work progressed it appeared to be about a woman’s journey through pregnancy and early motherhood but the afore mentioned surreal nature of the storytelling meant I was unsure until the end when a monologue by the main character Sharvon Mortimer provided the context of the entire story.
I have to say this is an unusual production and I liked it. Some very stylish and clever set changes and props combined with a fantastic soundscape and talented cast combined to create a very innovative show.
It was great to see Sharvon Mortimer take on dialogue in her role. I’ve admired her dance ability for a long time and she was once again excellent in that, but this is the first time I’ve seen her deliver dialogue and she did that really well especially in the final monologue which was filled with deep emotion and vulnerability.
While I applaud the work, I wonder if towards the end the surreal aspects became a little too intense and repetitive but I understand how that reflects the creatives desire to explore the nature of postnatal depression an anxiety.
It is a slight criticism and it certainly didn’t mar what is a very well put together and innovative form of theatre.
Photo credit – Ralph Brown
WREST
6-14 June 2025
Q Theatre – Auckland