WAVES -- Chameleon Productions -- City Hall Theatre -- August 9 and 10 In their ambitious `fusion' of poetry, song and dance, Chameleon Productions presented an evening of entertainment that revealed a variety of talent.

While verse hardly springs to mind as mainstream theatrical communication, author (and director of the show) Alan Smith writes with an impressive mix of gutsy realism and lyricism: by keeping the production fairly short, interspersing songs and having the dances providing a moving tableau to reinforce the spoken words, he succeeded in holding the rather small, but attentive audience.

`Waves', referring to the symbolic kind, was divided into four sections: Words are Creative; Emerge; Love, Lust, Loneliness, Liberation; and, a finale that embraced all those qualities.

These sub-headings will indicate that humour was decidedly not the focus of the night, although the opening street scene hinted otherwise, for assembled onstage were a motley collection of characters -- juggler, drag queen, girls going through their ballet exercises, a muscle `poseur', an animated `handstander' and even a flasher in the obligatory raincoat.

From these upbeat beginnings, the atmosphere darkened in intensity, an aura that was quite powerfully held for the remainder of the evening. In his poem on the power of the spoken word, Smith made some perceptive observations, among them the point that while words are responsible for creating and stimulating, `freeing the beast inside the man' they have also `made the gusts clench in disgust' and `destroy and break'.

`Veils' produced the first major dance sequence of the programme in which the obvious symbolisms of that garment were danced out. From the start, it was obvious that choreographer Aprille Choudhury, who creates dances of fluid invention, had achieved a high standard from her corps.

Sexual repression and taboos were explored in rather fairly explicit fashion, with the talented Ayo Johnson taking a somewhat startling backward look at the `Summer of Pubescent Shame'. This led, not altogether surprisingly, into the area of sexual abuse. The music of Sinead O'Connor's Red Football was eloquently interpreted by the dancers, which then evolved into the rather curious Metal Man (who, in truth, looked like a latter-day refugee from The Wizard of Oz).

`Emerge' predictably heralded the arrival of the `cocoon' sequence -- for some reason a faithful stand-by for the creatively challenged in the world of modern dance -- this time, however, operating on two levels for, beside the more obvious meaning, Smith was here exhorting his dancers to "discard the crutch'', to "emerge into a world that you were meant to embrace, to conquer, to dazzle, to captivate.'' The second half dealt, in always honest and occasionally frankly explicit manner, with sex and problems of the heart, venturing into such minefields as promiscuity, homosexuality, betrayal as well as a spot of indulgence in straightforward erotica. Bikinis and bridal veils (which then gave way to shiny vinyl and rubber boots) provided an eye-catching introduction to this sequence, in which three venetian blinds placed side by side on the stage, provided some symbolic openings and closings as the keeper and revealer of secrets which inevitably appealed to the bleaker side of human nature. In future productions, Alan Smith might consider softening this pervading intensity, utilising not only the theatrically effective contrasts of comic relief, but also to underline and drive home his various moral points with rather sweeter bait.

Smith and Aprille Choudhury performed with distinction, leading a fairly strong cast which included the experienced Ayo Johnson, Colin Godwin, Cathy Stovell, Melanie DeRoisa, Wanda Francis, Monique Georges, Peta Lewin and Caroline Tee. Singer Preston Swan, brought on to sing a couple of connecting songs, is the possessor of a naturally rich, if untrained bass voice.

The minimalistic sets, designed by Kendra Ezekiel, were outstandingly effective, and Wendell Simmons was responsible for the considerable task of writing some of the songs and arranging the remainder into a cohesive whole. A production of this kind is very much a piece of work in progress, not ideally suited to the City Hall venue from the point of view of attracting wide audiences, so once again we must voice that urgent plea for a small, yet adequately equipped theatre where our younger talent can test their artistic wings. They deserve it.

PATRICIA CALNAN REVIEW REV