Here We Are Amongst You review

I have not felt such sense of warmth and being cared for while watching a show than I have in the world premiere of Rawcus' Here We Are Amongst You. The Rawcus Ensemble began creating this in December 2019, looking into ideas around belonging, togetherness and being present in the moment, which is of particular significance now after the last few years, which for Melbournians has included a few hundred days of lockdown.

After a genuinely caring welcome by one of the cast, they begin walking through the space. Performed in the round, they enter and exit behind the audience, which makes you feel like not only part of the performance, but also part of this group. The smiles on their faces and the joy that they express as they walk and then begin to jog, run and skip with each other and around the audience is incredibly infectious.

Rooman review | Arts House

Our ability to connect with people and find deeper meaning in our relationships is what lays the foundations for finding happiness. Without building these relationships, life can be difficult and incredibly lonely. In Fleur Elise Noble's ROOMAN, we follow an unnamed protagonist stuck between living the monotony of the daily grind and living her dream and the choices she makes in trying to lead her best life.

Noble uses a variety of visual techniques to tell this story, predominantly through puppet work, illustration and projections onto a moving paper set. The detail in all these is incredibly intricate and adds arresting layers to the two worlds being presented on stage, from the black and white corporate world our protagonist is stuck in, to the more coloured and fantastical world of her imagination. With the only glimmer of happiness she finds is in her dreams, where she meets and falls in love with a ROOMAN (a half-man-half-kangaroo), she becomes more entranced by her fantasy life and begins to gradually slip away from reality.