In a world where reality bends and your identity dissolves into a number, Locus brings the audience face-to-face with the thin line between illusion and life as part of Melbourne Fringe Festivals 2024. I was lucky enough to get a ticket for the Saturday night performance (12th Oct) of the sellout season.
Audience members (there were 30 of us) are told to get to the venue 10 minutes prior to the start of the show for the purposes of checking in and because you are going to be “transported en masse” to a secret location. There you are met by L1. The hosts never refer to themselves by name. Instead they are simply L1, L2 and L3. Each audience member selects a lanyard and, in doing so, is expected to adopt the number on it as their new designation. Within the world of Locus you are a number not a name. This anonymity encourages the audience to drop their guard, immersing them even further into the surreal world of Locus. It is also designed to inculcate the sense that you are entering a different space. One where predeterminism dominates over the arbitrary chance of the outside world.
The production is hosted by Lawrence Leung, Vyom Sharma and Dom Chambers (all clad in black). Each of them takes us through different rooms and slowly begins to mesmerise the audience into believing this world of magical realism. Infused in each trick is the suggestion that the decisions and history of each audience member affect the outcome of some future moment – which is in direct tension with the aforementioned numerical designation we have each been given.
Adding to this is the space where the performance takes place. It is a multi roomed building that appears to be a lighting showroom (when not being used for magic). So you end up with all types of cool lights, lamps etc, accessorised with large pieces of furniture and bold artworks. This adds to the sense of surrealism.
And that is the point of spectacles like this. One could simply perform the illusions with some misdirection, sleight of hand and other tricks of the trade. But packaging all of this up within the context of a broader story is what shows like this aims to do. Question reality. Unshackle your mind. Rediscover purpose.
Overall, the production’s execution was on point and carried out well. The space was elegant and suited the overall atmosphere. But I did find it getting a little cramped with the 30 plus people in each area. I think the show would work a little smoother/faster if the audience numbers were lowered to a dozen. But then perhaps with smaller numbers some of the magic would appear less so. Either way, anyone who manages to get a ticket to Locus should walk away with their perception of reality just slightly reoriented.
