Part two of MTC’s Neon Festival, Doubletap and Angus Cerini’s Resplendence is a bleak, yet fascinating examination into the psyche of a broken man at odds with the world.
This unnamed man, alienated from the world, is angry, alone and frustrated with everything and everyone. Through spoken and pre-recorded dialogue, the man lets loose with his anger at the world. It is this anger that renders him unable to help when faced with a tragedy in the outside world.
This is Cerini’s first solo show in six years; however the power he has displayed in previous productions is still there. With an amazing control over his body and his movements, Cerini has the ability to move a story along in a new direction with the jerk of a shoulder or the curling of the lips. His physical presence is such a force that you sometimes don’t even need words to understand what is going on in this man’s mind.
Marg Horwell’s set and Andy Turner’s lighting is stark, simple and striking, highlighting the isolation and desperation of the man, while Jethro Woodward’s amazing sound design beautifully correlates with the chaos and tension in the man’s life, although the sound levels do sometimes take away from what Cerini is saying.
In Resplendence, Cerini has once again created a powerful and physical piece of theatre that you can’t keep your eyes off.
