Often, when faced with existential questions, we may also be hit with a pang of anxiety or a jolt of panic. However, I AM manages to pose these questions with a true sense of safety, curiosity and comfort.
The Adelaide City Library, a place of discovery and knowledge, serves as the perfect setting for this hour-long production. Throughout I AM, the audience is split into five different groups and guided through five different stations, much like a circuit. The library offers diverse rooms and spaces which allow for this format.
Each station is an insight into the various ways people try to find the meaning of life – there are conspiracy theorists, quiz shows, references to star signs, questionaries, metaphors and mediums. Each performer is a unique exuberant character, perhaps from a fairytale, Hogwarts, or a caricature of a TV game show host. There is a way into this piece for every participant.
The team behind I AM.
Writer Tahlia Hope leans on symbolism to help guide audiences through the show. We are encouraged to consider whether we are a jug or a cup and what fills our cup – ping pong balls, stones or rocks.
On many levels, I AM is the product of collaboration. It was created by the director of Ruby-award-winning local company AJZ Productions, Alirio Zavarce, in partnership with Hope. It also combines AJZ Productions’ theatre groups True North Youth Theatre Ensemble and True Ability, an ensemble of performing artists who are living with a disability.
To add yet another layer, it’s a collaboration with the audience. This particular partnership between the actors and audience members works because the performances are endearing, entertaining and supportive, creating an environment where audiences feel comfortable to participate.
I AM is targeted at those aged eight and older. Existential questions are perhaps mistakenly thought of as adult ponderings. However, Hope makes the subject matter widely accessible and respects the young audience by acknowledging that our purpose, and the meaning of life, is something grappled with by all humans, young and old.
I AM is at the Adelaide City Library until May 27 as part of the DreamBIG Children’s Festival.
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