Words: Alex Grunberg

5 Stars 

In 1998, Tyisha Miller was killed by police officers who shot her twelve times while she was unconscious in her car. Dreamscape tells the true story of Tyisha’s murder through a fictionalized imagining of her experience of her final moments. The blended performance of dance, spoken word, and beatboxing creates a stunning visual poem told with vivid lyricism.

The dehumanizing nature of the coroner’s report, the piecing and de-personalisation of Tyisha’s body parts, transforms in this production into an exploration of her life and potential, her dreams and observations. The horror of the piecing apart is reminiscent to the methodical discoveries of ‘Johnny Got His Gun,’ as dreams and memory are disrupted by a gradually building and cruel reality. This is all expressed with precise physicality by Natali Micciche whose natural performance is filled with artistic nuance – just a small pinch of her brows conveys a collapsing grief.

John ‘Faahz’ Merchant performs some of the best beatboxing I’ve heard at the Fringe, creating a soundscape that rivals any digital mix, adding a surreal playfulness to his gravitas. He slides easily between being part of the scene to part of the action, going from embodying the time and the moment to taking on various role of the two-person ensemble cast.

The show does not wallow in sorrow, but is tragic through its focus on Tyisha’s joy, looking forward to the future that was taken from her. We don’t just see loss – we see exactly what was lost.

Dreamscape
Bramley at Gilded Balloon at Appleton Tower
13:30
30 July – 24 August