By Tamara Bellion

Malthouse theatre presents the Australian Premiere of ECHO : Every Cold-Hearted Oxygen by Iranian play writer Nassim Soleimanpour [White Rabbit, Red Rabbit, NASSIM] co produced along side acclaimed director Omar Elerian  (NASSIM, Misty, two Palestinians go dogging). ECHO is a performance that lives to be described as an experience truly one of a kind, where cold-hearted reads are combined with innovating technology, brought to stages internationally marking history inviting some of the worlds most renowned actors and testing them beyond means which they’ve never encompassed before. 

ECHO is performed as a monologue yet invites all, uniting us, creating strong feelings of connectives and emotion. You will enter with the expectation of being an audience member but at conclusion of the show you will leave the theatre as if you have had a role in the performance and have built a true relationships, or as Nassim Soleimanpour would call them ‘friendships’.

With no insight or knowledge of what to expect or details of the script as the audience you will arrive feeling relatively anxious and doubtful but nevertheless this is replaced by the combination of the talented play writer Soleimanpour’s and leading actor Lawson’s high quality skills, together they produced a marvellous performance. They were able to pair as a strong team connecting with audience instantaneously evoking us to feel welcomed, present, reassured and guiding us on a unforgettable journey. 

This show is entirely unique for performers.. Unlike majority of other shows were the actor stands on stage being well rehearsed therefore feeling mostly comfortable and confident with their role, ECHO is definitely NOT like your ordinary performance especially for the actors as they enter the show completely unprepared and unaware of nature of the play or details of the script. Ben Lawson not only showed such courage in accepting to take part in this performance he also beyond all did a for-nominal job at being able to multitask with such a smooth manner; coordinating himself while listening to instructions/still obtaining frequent eye contact throughout entire production despite having to rely on reading off a script/watching footage,  Lawson then navigated himself on stage despite lack of knowledge of all visual elements which were being incorporated, demonstrating he was able to maintain his reactions, remain focused and in conjunction still being able to engage with all audience members…this is goes without question a complexed task for anyone to accomplish therefore it really did showcase how remarkably talented Ben Lawson is!

Despite the writer/director Nassim Soleimanpour and Ben Lawson being such valuable assets on stage, another amazing standout component of the show was the clever use of technical elements which involved special effects of imagery, lighting and sound. The way these were implemented throughout the monologue finalised the performance, adding more ‘ECHO’ to the concepts that Soleimanpour’s encompasses with us all in relation travelling through time; to the world in past, present and future.

The imagery transitions from videos of the present being more familiar realistic scenes that then interchanges to different settings that are more futuristic, picturesque or essentially what would be described as negative environment spaces each complimenting the nature of scenes therefore making the play more immersive, enhancing the mood and themes exquisitely engaging us as an audience.

The special effects featured were cleverly incorporated therefore became another prominent component, one key moment these effects captured my attention was the use of projection of the stars/intergalactic attributes these featured accompanied by darkness they where projected in front of Lawson then directed towards us capturing our full attention it drew everyone in leaving us on the edge of our seats captivating our focus on what was now in the moment balanced by what was also yet to come… enabling us to detach from distractions and be solely attentive on the performance alone generating a stronger sense of attachment to the narrative.

Partnering with the visual elements the sounds used in the performance really textured the different scenes of the show clearly defining the progression in script and most importantly connected us to the both Nassim Soleimanpour and Ben Lawson as if we are standing in their shoes confronting each of the scenarios that they encountered and no longer as audience members.

ECHO is undoubtably a theatrical experience described as ‘experiment’ that pushes us to our limits in a memorising way. A touching monologue inspired by Nassim Soleimanpour’s life that will take you on a journey… as if you begin on one side of a water bank expecting to cross to the other side by the end but instead Nassim Soleimanpour’s guides you to stop in middle of a bridge, were the big bang happened being space between all atoms because unlike the land on either side its where life’s connections begins….