Thereby Hangs A Fairy Tale

Sydney Morning Herald

Tuesday May 2, 1989

JILL SYKES

ONE Extra Company is making a welcome return to the Sydney stage with Urban Fairies and Other Stories, its rollicking ockerisation of European fairy tales.

The dance theatre treatment given to perennial fables such as The Emperor's New Clothes and The Ugly Duckling leaves the original concept recognisably intact under a veneer of Australian characteristics that sum up the best and the worst of our national persona.

Typically, for this group's highly original work, there is an undercurrent of menace in some pieces - Rapunzel, for example - and a few hard-hitting punches landed just when the laughter was loudest.

But humour remains uppermost in this edited version of Urban Fairies as it was first seen in 1987. One of my favourites is still the pregnant Odette from Swan Lake, fluttering her way through the piece from the comfort of a chair, only to be interrupted by a corps of Swans football players, one of whom persistently tackles her opposite number, Odile, with fierce relish.

That particular item puts a dance joke into a contemporary context. The Ugly Duckling makes a more serious social comment with its selection for the title role of a Japanese schoolgirl who is despised by her schoolmates. It's both interesting and depressing to note that this interpretation has gained pertinence over the intervening two years.

In addition to Urban Fairies, the company is presenting the mesmerising Scarf Dance, based on traditional Chinese movements; Overall Ease, a male duet memorable for its loose-limbed sensuality; and Little Deaths, an excerpt from Dinosaur, in which six of the eight performers give a phonetic and funny account of ways in which to kill oneself and other people in the general craziness of the modern world.

High calibre performances, built on well-rehearsed precision, strong motivation and unflagging vigour, overcome the cramped limitations of the venue. One Extra Company is back with renewed vitality and spirit.