As we approach midnight, however, the conference dissolves, the audience gets monogrammed “Snuggies” to wear, and we step into a surreal, dreamlike night journey, where the Arts Centre itself speaks to us, where swamp creatures roam and paintings come to life, and where the logistical nightmare of making a show of this scale at ACM is comically exposed.
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The last part is as bizarre as any of the surrealist physical theatre in the show and involves an extended sequence (which seems to use verbatim email exchanges between artists and ACM staff) that re-enacts the ordeal of removing an Alice in Wonderland puppet exhibition from the Arts Centre foyer.
The saga of the vitrines (glass display cases for the puppets) unleashes a Kafka-like maze of bureaucratic absurdity – and perhaps in a sign of things to come, shows how inseparable work and rest can be – right at the point where sleep deprivation starts to bite. It’s like a lucid dream, and the piece only gets more hallucinatory as the wee hours start to stretch toward dawn.
8/8/8: Rest does have mercy on us. A beanbag-strewn sleep and meditation space has been arranged so you can nod off if you desire, while insomniacs can party at an impromptu rave, elsewhere in the building.
There are longueurs, of course, but this is an intricate and provocative investigation of how we approach the third of our lives we should spend asleep. It’s also a triumph of site-specific performance. This is Arts Centre Melbourne as you’ve never seen it before: an iconic ugly duckling, dreaming it’s a swan.
Reviewed by Cameron Woodhead
MUSIC
OneFour: The Get Back Tour ★★★★
Rising Festival, Festival Hall, June 8
On the left of the stage, a sign stating “Welcome to Mt Druitt” sits behind the beat-up, graffitied front end of a car. A short film plays scenes of individuals fleeing the police, of burning buildings, men throwing cash in the air and a mob holding burning sticks. The crowd has their phones poised and ready to capture controversial rappers OneFour as they burst on stage to deafening cheers.
Formed in 2014 in western Sydney, OneFour are praised as pioneers of Australian drill music, a subgenre of hip hop noted for its minimalistic production and explicit lyrics akin to gangsta rap.
OneFour perform at Rising Festival on June 8, 2024.Credit: Richard Clifford
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It’s rare for the group to tour, in large part due to long-term issues between the group and authorities – in particular, the NSW police, which have claimed their material can incite violence.
The issues – and the impact on OneFour’s commercial success – is well-documented in the 2023 Netflix film OneFour: Against All Odds. Even the group’s founder Jerome “J Emz” Misa expressed his apprehension about their Rising Festival gig going ahead.
Performing last night were three members of the original group: J Emz, Spencer “Spenny” Magalogo and Salec “Lekks” Su’a. Current member Dahcell “Celly” Ramos was recently charged for an alleged knife threat and former member Pio “YP” Misa (J Emz’s brother) has become an ordained priest.
J Emz leads most of the crowd engagement and storytelling across the set. The crowd turns on their phone torches, illuminating the space as he performs Heartless solo, a softer ballad that was co-written with YP. “You guys know the situation,” he says in his introduction. He later dedicates Welcome To Prison “to those incarcerated right now”.
Due to their limited performance opportunities, you could tell the group gave their all to make the most of it. Bounding across the stage, they spit impassioned lyrics that document inter-gang postcode tensions and the members’ own hardships and religious upbringings.
OneFour’s ongoing struggles to overcome the barriers of race and class ingrained in Mt Druitt’s social fabric are evident throughout their show: in the gunshot sound effects from the onstage DJ, in the screen’s content with images of violence, as well as the lyrics of their music. Even J Emz mentions at one point “we’re not making it out of the trenches”.
Due to their limited performance opportunities, at last night’s performance you could tell OneFour were giving it their all.Credit: Richard Clifford
The final song’s arrival felt a little abrupt and without enough warning from the group. The inclusion of softer songs like Heartless and Welcome To Prison showed their emotional range, but the lyrical content could feel a little one-note, as did the maintained high intensity of the rest of the set. However, OneFour’s rawness is part of their appeal.
To say that their music incites violence in its listeners is reductive to those who live with these experiences every day. Their audience engaged with the performance and then left the gig with minimal fuss.
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Throughout the performance, there’s a strong sense of community. The group’s crew is often seen side of stage, filming them and the crowd.
When the final song, Spot the Difference does come up, they join them at the centre as the crowd jumps so hard that the floor vibrates.
Reviewed by Vyshnavee Wijekumar
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