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Louise Moyes in Florence. Image: Justin Hall.

POSTED: 05 APRIL 2009

Florence

(Louise Moyes | Ten Days on the Island | Peacock Theatre, Hobart | 2–5 April)*

It took Louise Moyes 63 hours to fly from Newfoundland, Canada, to Tasmania. Florence, her solo show, was not worth the journey. More to the point, it’s surprising that Tasmania’s Ten Days on the Island artistic director, Elizabeth Walsh, invited her to come in the first place.

It’s not that Moyes isn’t a talented performer — she is. Rather, it’s that the one-hour show which she researched, wrote, choreographed and performed, needs serious editing.

Florence, so the program told us, recreates the life of the lively and funny storyteller, musician and dancer Florence Leprieur, as documented by Moyes when her subject was 94.

Leprieur lived in an isolated community of mixed British, French and First Nation descent. Life was hard, children were many, but Florence’s love of step dancing carried her through, as seen in the videoed clips which are screened as though Moyes was interviewing her on stage.

The show begins with Moyes giving the audience a slideshow of Newfoundland and an introductory talk about its history. At first, I wasn’t sure whether this was part of the performance, then I began to think I was back at school. Yes, it was interesting and it set the scene, but it would have been far better if this information had been been written into the show, allowing us to discover the essence of it through the performance.

The performance itself begins with a dance sequence, which left me none the wiser. After a break — why? — Moyes returns to the stage and the performance continues in disjointed fashion.