For people who have never seen a musical before, Little Triangle’s production of 35mm: A Musical Exhibition will be a significant departure from traditional means of storytelling. For people who practically live in the audience of musical shows, 35mm will still be a departure from what they know and understand to be narrative in theatre. And yes, for those that have already seen a production of 35mm, you will still witness a subversion, a divergence, from the known and the typical - because director Alexander Andrews has created an utterly unique masterwork with his spin on 35mm.

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Ryan Scott Oliver’s original production held a cast of five. Andrews has expanded that cast to nine - creating a revolving, frantic network of lovers and loners, new encounters and old flames. This network only became more interconnected during my particular viewing of the show, where the production skilfully reforged the casts’ relationships as one member (Keira Leiva) was sick, unable to make the stage at all, while another (Jenna Wooley) had lost their voice for the night. 

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Suddenly, every character had just a bit more depth to them. Nina Carcione, who had absolutely shone throughout the night as “the Lover” now also had to fill in for Jenna Wooley, “the Queen” during the audacious and gruesome penultimate song of the show, “The Ballad of Sara Berry”. Suddenly the Lover had a much darker streak underlying her playfulness and vibrance from the earlier parts of the production. Wooley, while voiceless, filled in for the regrettably ill Keira Leiva as “the Observer”, whose clicks of the camera punctuate the show’s pacing and create monuments to the heights of emotion and passion that the other performers reach. It’s a testament to Wooley’s versatility as an actor that she was able to lend not only a credible air of mystery and delight to her take on the Observer, but match the emotional weight of her fellow performers on stage even when unable to take a lead singing role that night.

 

35mm is an anthology of immense talent, a showcase of some of the remarkable voices plying their trade in Sydney’s independent theatre scene. Brodie Masini, in the eager and bright eyed role of “the Adventurer” couldn’t go a single scene without exhibiting genuine joy and wonder, he was the emotional backbone of the show. The peaks and valleys of the love story that “the Maverick” (Oli McGavock) and “the Seeker” (Izzy Hanly) develop over the show creates an anthology of their startling vocal and emotional range, mirrored by the more subdued but incredibly earnest relationship between “the Angel” (Jack Dawson) and the wonderfully vibrant “Dreamer” (Aaron Robuck).

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And finally, Mikayla Burnham as “the Sage” was nothing short of incredible. Her rendition of “Leave Luanne” was full of rage and sadness and passion, a sincerely jaw-dropping performance. Bolstering the fantastic performances of these actors were several live musicians who gave the entire show an authentic, powerful atmosphere of pathos, riding along the actors’ highs and adding a new layer of depth to their lows.

 

In their twelfth ever production, Little Triangle has flourished as a pioneer in Sydney’s theatre scene. They rolled with every punch that came their way, and it’s a testament to their ingenuity that after the tragic closure of their original venue, the Meraki Arts Bar, they were able to come back and give us a serene, jubilant show at the Flightpath.

 

35mm dismantles the idea of a typical narrative, with typical characters. It casts well off from the mainstream, with a show that is exhibits raw, unfiltered emotion for every second of its runtime. And it’s here, in the abstract and the untethered passion of the performers, that something really special comes together. A show like 35mm reminds us that words will never be able to do feelings true justice, that sometimes you just have to lose yourself in the moment, in the idea, of what’s being portrayed before you. A picture is, after all, worth a thousand words.

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