Off the back of a critically acclaimed season at New York Fringe, City Of Shadows took you through a grim, eerie jaunt of death, despair and danger. Inspired by forensic and police photographs rescued in the '80s from a flooded warehouse in NSW, Rachael Dease compiled an array of images and an original music arrangement to draw evocative emotions from her crowd.
Accompanying Dease's deep vocals were four talented musicians gracing the stage with two violins, a viola and a cello. The haunting tunes from the mini symphony brought the ghastly humanity of the images to life. Each image portrayed the truthfulness of mankind, with the faces of violent individuals (often murderers) bleary-eyed and staring into your soul. The deathly horrifying and gruesome stills of lifeless dead bodies and the violent locations in which the crimes took place were splashed across the screen like normality.
It was an alarming performance for the unprepared, with smears of blood on the floors and walls, and weapons (for example, butcher knives) often appearing in full view. The shrieks of the moment could almost be felt as the music grew and became more thrilling while the 50-minute performance evolved. Lyrically, there were numerous spiritual references: “God help us, pray for us”. It allowed the mind to wander into the place of a victim, seeking remorse for the acts committed.
As an art piece, this performance expressed not just the beauty of some talented artists but the need for peace in ourselves and compassion towards each other. The closing scene stated “treat each other well”, something the perpetrators in the images didn't convey. Dease simply aimed make a statement through her show that people matter, and it brought her and her team a standing ovation from the bewildered viewers.
