High Windows, Low Doorways (subtlenuance) runs at the Tap Gallery
from March 19 – 30. Written by Jonathan Ari Lander, Noelle Janaczewska, Katie
Pollock, Alison Rooke, Mark Langham, Ellana Costa and Melita Rowston. Directed
by Paul Gilchrist.
High Windows, Low
Doorways is a series of monologues loosely focused around the theme of
spirituality. Like many of subtlenuance’s productions, it’s layered and
complex. There is a lot in this show to mull over. I thought it was beautifully
curated and well performed.
One of the things I
liked the way in which the monologues often seemed to be in conversation with
each other – not necessarily literally, but thematically. As a result, I
thought the best way to write this review was in conversation with my theatre
date, my friend Martin.
JODI: Hi Martin.
MARTIN: Hi Jodi.
JODI: So we’ve just been to see High Windows, Low Doorways. Tell me your initial impressions.
MARTIN: Um –
JODI: I won’t put the um in.
MARTIN: No, don’t put the um in.
JODI: Actually, I think ‘um’ might be a good place to begin.
When approaching a subject as broad and intimidating as spirituality, our first
instinct is often to say ‘um’.
MARTIN: Indeed. I was surprised by the lack of… religious
content… or, content I would associate with ‘spirituality’ in my own concept of
the term.
JODI: Can you explain that for me a little further?
MARTIN: Um…
JODI: Sorry, I realise this is a totally intimidating
exercise. But then, religion is intimidating.
MARTIN: I didn’t identify the characters on stage as
spiritual as such or the stories that they were telling as inherently
spiritual. And I guess I was expecting people who were more religious in a day
to day sense of the word. I think what we got was people explaining aspects of
their lives that they loosely associate as spiritual. And… I had a very sort of
spiritual childhood and half of my teenage years were the same and… um… yeah. I
thought we would experience people who had more of a day to day connection with
the spiritual. But it was something else.
JODI: Not being especially spiritual myself, I found the
pieces I connected with most were the ones associated with spirituality and
childhood – I went to a Catholic primary school and so a lot of that resonated
with me very strongly. However, I’m not sure whether spirituality per se was
actually what the focus was. I feel like more of it – and maybe this ties into
you not feeling the experiences related as particularly spiritual – was more to
do with ritual than with actual belief. Would you agree?
MARTIN: Absolutely.
JODI: There’s a concept in Islam that I’ve always quite
liked when applied to religion more broadly. They distinguish between islam – the vertical relationship
between person and god – and iman –
the horizontal relationships between members of a religious community. I feel
like what was explored here was much more iman,
and I feel like ‘spirituality’ would be much more islam – a personal, rather than communal experience.
MARTIN: Yes. And it is interesting to note that I think
every story that was told in this piece of theatre involved someone’s
relationship with a family member or friends – in one case, a teacher at
school. They all connected with this theme of spirituality through people
within their own social or community networks.
JODI: Totally true. One was about a guy and his grandma,
another about a Lao girl and her culture, another about an oppressively
discriminatory school experience… but not very much about gods or actual
personal belief. And I wonder whether that was the thing missing. The only real
gesture towards gods we got were hymns, and a lot of the time, they rang quite
hollow for me. What did you think?
MARTIN: Yes, I thought of the hymns as theatrical
embellishment – a nice way to break up the style of presentation. But not a
moment of… spiritual connection or… prayer, I guess? In the way that I’ve
experienced it from childhood.
JODI: That was what was missing, wasn’t it? That notion of
prayer?
MARTIN: Yes. I would agree with that.
JODI: Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In fact, I find
it quite interesting that most of the associations with this theme were
ritualistic – that is, social – rather than individual or personal. I wanted
that notion to be explored more, unpacked and unpicked, I guess. But in this
medium, where you have seven different writers creating seven different pieces,
I wonder how much room there was to do that.
MARTIN: I see that point of view. And I also – from my own
personal experiences, feel like that [individually spiritual] aspect of
religion is becoming more and more rare in our society. Personally, I feel that
this reflects my own journey that I’ve taken in life away from that personal
relationship with gods towards a more communal one.
JODI: I wonder what this says about communities. Do we in
fact worship our communities in a religious sense? I don’t really know.
MARTIN: I think that my own personal relationships have
replaced for me that thing that the religious aspect of my childhood fulfilled,
so I would support that.
JODI: So would the show, I think. There was a lot of loneliness
there. Would you agree?
MARTIN: Yes. There was a lot of the single person reflecting
on memories of relationships but doing so in such a way that they felt like
they were alone even though they were communicating to the audience.
JODI: Personally, I found the piece set in a Christian high
school quite affecting, probably because I could relate to it – that basically
was my school experience. Were there any that stood out to you in particular?
MARTIN: I did relate to that one as well, having gone to a
religious school. I really connected with the story about a person who was
having a bad year and kept finding feathers in various places and that moment
where she just spills everything in a prayer in a Buddhist temple… I related to
that moment where you just break down and spill everything as a last resort as
an effective way of dealing with that kind of situation.
JODI: That one took me back to a moment when I was in
Malaysia a few years ago and I did something similar – though nowhere near as dramatic.
I remember being in a Buddhist temple and hanging a kind of wish ribbon on a
tree and just really sincerely imbuing it with wishes about all these worries I
had and… it seems quite minor in the scheme of my life, you know, but it was
one of those moments that sticks in your mind.
MARTIN: I had a very similar experience in a church in
Poland. I do remember it quite vividly… I do think it was a turning point for
me. It might have been the last time I really prayed.
JODI: Which is why I found it so interesting that this show
focused so much on ritual – rituals stay with us, even if belief does not. I
think that was really the common theme echoed throughout, and it resonated with
me.
MARTIN: Me too.
JODI: Any closing remarks you want to make about the show?
MARTIN: It’s interesting having a conversation about it
because I feel like the impact for me has been felt more on reflection than
during the performance. Maybe that’s a credit to the show.
JODI: I think it’s a thought provoking show – maybe not one
that you’re glued to the whole time, but definitely one that you have to mull
over afterwards. Thank you for chatting with me post-show, Martini.
MARTIN: Pleasure, McAlister.
