Melati Suryodarmo’s Lapse is a performance art piece that made its Australian debut at Asia TOPA 2025, promising to delve into themes of ethical decline and societal collapse through dance, absurd imagery, and live music.
However, the execution left much to be desired. The performance felt disjointed, with sequences lacking coherence, making it challenging for the audience to grasp the intended narrative.
We began by standing in red-lit foyer of the Martyn Myer Arena in Southbank, watching (or in my case, attempting to watch because I couldn’t see properly through the crowd) as two black-clad performers stood silently with large red perspex screens.
The crowd then shuffled outside and we watched as a large creature (ghost, yeti, Cousin Itt, sentient haystack?) walked in slow motion around the outside of the theatre. This went on for quite some time. The creature finally walked inside the foyer and out to the courtyard with the audience in slow motion pursuit. It stood on the lawn for what felt like forever, before heading towards the theatre and knocked on the door three times.
Eventually we were let inside and took our seats. Inside the theatre was a large tin-foil pyramid and a performer also covered in foil, as well as a sound-booth with foil around it. The creature from outside, the tinfoil man and the two black-clad perspex screen holders from earlier then performed a dance routine for more than an hour.
The choreography appeared repetitive and uninspired for most of this performance, failing to evoke the emotional depth necessary for such profound themes.
Performance art is always going to be subjective and I went in with an open mind and attempted to be objective. But this just wasn’t for me. And I’m not the only one – people were walking out during this performance suggesting they were both underwhelmed and disengaged.
