Future Cargo @ The Garden Of Unearthly Delights, Adelaide

What an incredible show Future Cargo is! It was surreal and weird which is tailor-made for anyone who loves “out there” performances. It was visually stunning and the audio in our headphones was superb. The use of the treadmill was similar to the Adelaide Festival Show a few years ago called The Sheep Song and like that show it was highly effective. I loved the audio in the headphones as I only “read” audiobooks and for me, it keeps my attention better.

The story is both eerie and unsettling and is similar to Orson Wells’s radio broadcast of The War of the Worlds in that we have an alien invasion and often in Future Cargo we hear a radio broadcast which has listeners calling the station to advise of alien sightings

When we arrive for the performance we are sitting on chairs outside with our headphones on and facing a semi-trailer. The driver is waiting at a truck stop listening to the radio and hearing reports of power surges and electromagnetic disturbances in the area. Soon the “curtain” rises on the shipping container that the semi is hauling and we are treated to the three aliens on a treadmill continually moving from left to right. It is a highly visual show and the three performers dance and move dressed in form-fitting silver are a reflection as well as a distortion of society.

Future Cargo sees Darkfield’s David Rosenberg join forces with UK-based choreographer Frauke Requardt in an otherworldly outdoor performance, which is making its Australian premiere at this year’s Adelaide Fringe. As with other Darkfield productions, there are somewhat disturbing elements but within a meditative, visually captivating performance

The show can be seen as a commentary on consumerism, “human” behaviour” and gender fluidity played out on the two treadmills.

Fringe Review By Richard De Pizzol

For tickets and show information head to FringeTix…