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Materia

Materia

Summerhall, 8-14 August

by Flora Gosling

Lightweight, bulky, and versatile, polystyrene is a material that at best leaves no impression and at worst its texture makes your toes curl. But for creator and performer Andrea Salustr, it has served as inspiration. Materia explores the artistic, kinetic, and visual possibilities of polystyrene. It may seem like a random choice, but in fact, it opens the door for a uniquely textual theatrical experience.

The performance consists of multiple short acts, each finding a different way of engaging with the material. It is cut, it is melted, it is snapped, but the most compelling acts are those in which the polystyrene balls, boards, confetti, and semi-spheres seem to move of their own accord. Props, especially fans, are used to manipulate them so that they dance, spin and flurry into the air, each time different than before. As much as it can be said that objects can perform, these objects perform majestically.

There isn’t a narrative as such, but there is a sense of building that leads to a breathtaking crescendo. Andrea Salustr puts himself in the background; he keeps his hands and the materials in the spotlight and his face in shadow. He is sternly playful, and even though some of the arrangements and choreography have an almost circus-like skill he remains stoically understated. What emerges is not a show about the possibilities of polystyrene specifically, but a show about objects more generally, and how we engage with them. It is not weighed down with metaphor; its value lies in its sensory evocations. Coming out of the era where digital spaces and the internet were the only way to enjoy theatre, Materia reminds us how some sights and sounds need to be experienced in the flesh to work their magic.

Four stars.