Review: The Persistence of Dreams

Enter Sandman: Roberta Bosetti whispers a bedtime story to an audience member. Image: Umberto Costamagna

The Persistence of Dreams: The Sandman
Starring: Roberta Bosetti and Renato Cuocolo
Appearing at: Your house

“I am an actor and I play myself,” Roberta Bosetti tells us. She has told audiences the same thing in many shows and The Persistence of Dreams does not stray far from the formula. There is always a mention slipped in there somewhere; a warning of sorts that we’ll not be quite sure of what’s real and what’s theatre.

It’s this blurring of lines that has become a constant in the work of IRAA Theatre, which is composed of Bosetti and her husband Renato Cuocolo. In their previous shows the venue would have been the couple’s personal space; this time the theatre space is your place.

We wait in my lounge, an audience of ten, for 9pm. There is a knock on the door and the ‘couple’, who play a brother and sister, enter. “Is this the house?” Cuocolo asks her, “Is this the house you dreamt of?” She is not sure and she wants to be shown through my home.

The evening will unfold in the unpredictable way a seasoned IRAA audience member might expect, though The Persistence of Dreams does not push as hard for the same level of disconcertion and discomfort that their previous shows have incited. ‘What is your greatest fear?” you’re asked soon after the show begins. Bound and blindfolded you’ll be privy to arguments but will still feel relatively safe. There will talk of home invasion and robbery. “What do you expect when you invite strangers into your home?” he asks. He wonders out loud if we have eggs in the fridge. We do and he’s pleased. The reference becomes clearer as he quotes the film Funny Games (about a sadistic home invasion).

After the opening preamble Bosetti begins a monologue about memory and shares stories from her childhood. She relays ETA Hoffman’s short story The Sandman as her mother told it to her as a child. The Sandman is a dark character who would throw sand into the eyes of children who would not go to bed. The sand would make their eyeballs pop out and he would feed the eyeballs to his own children. This character becomes a symbol of Bosetti’s greatest fear, which we later learn has been realised.

The stories she tells focus on bedtime and something far darker is being alluded to but is always left unsaid. She often trails off leaving sentences unfinished. This has not always been the case in IRAA’s work, where themes of loss and violation are described graphically and creep up frequently: The Persistence of Dreams is gentler on its audience. Allusions to darker themes are certainly present in what is not said and there is a sense that something sinister has happened in Bosetti’s youth, but it’s nearly lost in the mix.

Is one’s own home safe? Even if no one is there to cause threat we are still haunted by our own fears. The Persistence of Dreams tacks references, moments and stories together with ragged thread to pose a plethora of questions without any comfort of resolve or answers.

Once the duo had left, rigorous discussion began: this is one part of the IRAA experience that’s not part of the performance as such but always seems to be present. The response was mixed: many confessed they’d tuned out at points; there was a desire to feel that something perverse or dangerous was about to happen. “What do you expect when you invite strangers into your home?” we had been asked. “What is your greatest fear?” Long into the evening we were still seated, among ourselves, searching for these answers.

The Persistence Of Dreams: The Sandman is in Melbourne until Friday 7 May 2010
. The minimum audience is six; the maximum 12. Tickets are $25 per person. Bookings: (03) 9354 6302.

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