THEATRE REVIEW | Black Box
Black Box is not a simple play. It is a triad of musical theatre, recorded music and an innovation story.
Produced by Queenslander Paul Hodge this stage production is also his brainchild and creation of book, music and lyrics. David Berthold (Artistic Director in residence at NIDA and known to local audiences as an alumni director of the Brisbane Festival) is his collaborator. Together they have pushed the boundary of a contemporary musical theatre experience.
Currently onstage in the intimate Cremorne Theatre at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC) be prepared for a couple of hours wearing mandatory snug fitting cordless headphones. A mashup of live vocals, sound effects and recorded tracks provide the immersive audio for the life story of Dr David Warren — the Australian inventor of the first black box flight recorder.
I bought a ticket to the pre-opening night matinee and loved the embodied nature of recorded music whilst immersed in live theatre. The impeccable stereo-tracked recording of a 14-piece live band alongside cast enhancements of 11 actors and singers created a wide open expansive sound in contrast to the intimacy of a two handed play.
Michael Cormick (Phantom of the Opera, Beauty and Beast) as an actor was compelling and his singing strong. The challenge of such a lengthy vocal performance, without live stage sound, is not to be underestimated. His performance alone bridged the public experience with the personal intimacy of wearing headphones in the theatre. I found his performance of the gamut of emotional expressions of complex grief, doubt, frustration, obsession and love mesmerising.
David’s wife, Ruth, was performed by Helpmann Award winner Helen Dallimore. The inclusion of her character — up to the neck in 50s housewife, four kids and devotion to her fixated, distracted husband — gave the production an emotional rudder. At times a bit pitchy, perhaps a result of the technical staging, the emotion in her performance of a woman breaking under the pressure of postnatal depression was deeply moving.
To tell (and show) the story of why and how flight recorders, now taken for granted, in modern aircraft came to being is left field. The human stories and relationships behind science, technology and innovation in Australia are rarely told. Black Box successfully brings the emotional costs of obsession and tenacity in the face of rejection and bureaucracy to life.
The courage to push innovation in the staging, production and experience of a theatre audience is to be congratulated.
The predictable tropes of musical theatre songs are there for comfort, interspersed with HD screen graphics, cool electronic sounds and pre-recorded vocal tracks (A New Era by Dami Im) push along the art form. Music has always embraced new technologies and this coupling really worked for me. There are enough lyrical hooks for lingering ear worms on the way home.
It will feel weird. It is loud, soft and as with all innovation the potential for failure, obstacles, criticism and risk aversion is possible. As Brene Brown says “there is no innovation without creativity” and Black Box challenges the audience to embrace innovation and experience their creation. Do it.
Black Box is now playing until the 19 May 2024 at QPAC’s Cremore Theatre. Tickets here.
I bought two tickets and attended the matinee on Saturday 11 May 2024 and have received nothing for writing this review except the joy of the personal writing challenge.
Leanne de Souza is transitioning to a creative life out of a long career in the business of music, technology and arts governance. “In 2024 I love to travel and am writing my memoir. When home in Brisbane I volunteer at my local community centre food bank ; support friends and family with the administrivia of ‘life, death and taxes’.”
I have a Bachelor of Arts (Media and Digital Cultures) and am underway with a Master of Museum Studies at the University of Queensland.
I pay my respects to the Elders and Ancestors of the Turrbal and Jagera Yuggera peoples of the lands I live, walk, work and play on.
Instagram: @rebelbuzz
