The Lab is basically a dome tent, a miniature black-box theatre arranged amongst other tent-theatres and an array of food and beverage stalls that form Fool’s Paradise, one of Adelaide Fringe’s ‘hubs’.  This was where I ventured to review Kate Walder’s Pilgrim, and though beset at times by the outside bustle and noise, both the work and the performance are gems that outshine myriad circus and burlesque offerings that seem to invade Fringe and grow in number each year.  Now, I’m not ‘dissing’ circus and burlesque, but rather urging folk to seek out theatre and dance options that offer depth, challenge, and an artful take on our world and our inner temperaments.

Presented by award-winning company Steps & Holes and producer Kate Jane Gaul, Pilgrim is a world premiere and the latest work from director, performer, and writer Kate Walder who is passionate about creating new work in Australia and internationally.  Walder is a graduate of WAAPA’s Bachelor of Arts (Music Theatre) and École Philippe Gaulier, Paris.  Her impressive stage presence and dynamic precision shine alongside her capabilities as a performer, both physical and dramatic.  My only concern during the performance was that the spoken text was sometimes too quiet, or poorly balanced, even in the small venue.

Performer and writer Walder, composer Max Lyandvert, and designer Michael Hankin have created an intimate work that sits within a wider ‘world’ of travel and self- and heritage-discovery through Rome, Athens and Jerusalem. That this world can exist and thrive within the confines of a small venue is testament to the talented team.  I do suspect that the venue may have presented significant technical challenges and I would adore to see this work within a more well-equipped space.

The solo work is a blend of spoken word, physicality, clowning and movement, evocative soundscapes, shadow-play, ritual, plus a sense of joy, curiosity, and inquiry.  The many props and illustrative set pieces are expertly manipulated by the performer without ever overwhelming narrative or atmosphere.  The precise, ritualized placing of miniatures upon a small turntable at the downstage edge of the space while illuminated by a centred candle create place.  So, for instance, a mini-Parthenon façade appeared on the back cloth as it rotated past the candle while our protagonist moved through the stage space.  Pilgrim is an ingenious medley of tasks for the performer that create a contextual background for their journey, both physical and spiritual.

One more delightful prop is an old candlestick telephone where the earpiece doubles as a torch.  Various entities from Zeus to the character’s mum are able to communicate through this device (and creative voiceovers) while the torch utility works to illuminate card cut-outs naming chapters of the narrative, among other things.  There is also a fortunately very robust four wheeled spinner case that travels many miles, transforms as needed, might be ridden, and can store or bring forth various accessories. Many imagery references from antiquity are peppered throughout the play as well as some more modern recorded song choices from Leonard Cohen and Sia Furler.  The sound score though is matched masterfully and is perfectly evocative.

The chapter-naming arises from the Ch'an/Zen tradition, where ox herding was a useful metaphor for training the mind.  The ten poems start with The Search for the Ox (Humans are different from animals in that they can think and reflect… Some people seek a reason for life; they seek the ox.) and ending with In the World (Here is an enlightened person. Bare of self-adornments and pretensions. There is only the wholesome outflowings of an enlightened mind.)  Finally, our pilgrim completes their quest with an honest address to the audience where character, persona, and actor combine; the journey encompassed losing love, finding self and heritage, and discovering perhaps that the quest never really ceases.

Walder writes that her theatre company, Steps and Holes, was named for a game she used to play as a small child with her dad “…where the joy rests on the frontier between order and chaos, in the beauty of simplicity and in trusting the unknown.”  I assert that Pilgrim fits beautifully within that place with its honesty, joy, intimacy and intricacy giving audiences a moment to pause and consider what it is to explore within, even as you explore in a worldly manner; and also to hold on to a vital sense of wonder and joy in our own lives.