One of my highlights for this year's Perth international art's festival was this creative exhibition of reality theatre. This "performance documentary" as it has been repeatedly called, is an authentic portrayal of actual cockpit conversations from six ill-fated flights. The directors, Bob Berger, Patrick Daniels and Irving Gregory researched the project by reading hundreds of accident transcripts.
I had been anticipating seeing this performance since a saw a documentary about it a couple of years back. I have an extreme fear of flying, and whenever I'm in a plane, I'm an uncontrollable mess, which I guess makes me curious to know what happens up there. Up there were everything is controlled. Where they control lives. I want to know what those people were thinking, and what went through the pilots minds in their last, most harrowing moments.
The set was very simple, but achieved all that it needed to in the Octagon's intimate thrust stage. A metallic conical structure symbolising the small tension packed cockpit, sat alone in the middle of the stage with an eerie blue light cascading around it. Behind, a large screen that displayed the details of each flight, including how many passengers survived, and how many did not. Only one out of the six performances had no fatalities.
Terrible memories came rushing back as I was suddenly thrown into a plane. The identical rumbling of the engines began and two flight attendants came out and performed the ritual that sadly, most of us ignore. Some people in the audience didn't really know how to take what was happening. There were a few confused laughs, but as you looked around, you could tell who knew what was going to happen, and who didn't. Those who did were painstakingly reading the attendants motions, imprinting them into their brains. The horrific, ear-splitting grumbles grew louder as we were taken up into the air. A single tear fell from my eye as I honestly began to feel that I was truly in a plane. The entire theatre was shaking just the way it does in the real mechanical birds.
After each and every crash, the lights cut out, and left the audience stunned with horror. 520 fatal, 4 survivors the screen once flashed. This is the one that tore me up the most. It was the flight of Japan airlines Flight 123, Boeing 747. Crashed into Mt. Osutaka on August 12th, 1985. The single worst plane crash in history. After the plane went down, and the lights went out, we were expecting the sounds to stop as they did for all the others. But the noises continued. The explosion, the burning, the impact. Everything was heard as the tubular tomb met it's fate. I for one will never forget those sounds.
Curious to how accurate each re-enactment was, I went to find the place where they received the recordings. The National Transportation Safety Board's [NTSB] website (www.ntsb.gov) or those of other air safety related agencies. I proceeded to download some of the actual recordings. I was stunned at the accuracy of the actors which were lit up from beneath as if by flight instruments. The actors, Patrick Daniels, Stuart Rudin, Irving Gregory, Michael Bruno, Dan Krumm, Audrey Crabtree and Julie Randall, wear the appropriate uniforms which, along with their precise acting skills, helped create the illusion that we were flying. They captured the control of the crew who struggle to concentrate, read guidebooks, and keep the passengers calm, whilst on the verge of their own blind fear. I couldn't help but think of September 11th. Anything that involves terror will always bring back remembrance of those attacks.
"Charlie Victor Romeo shouldn't put anyone off flying. It's like the bumper sticker: 'if you can read this, thank a teacher.' Stated Bob Berger. "Your seeing something that you don't think about when you hear about Plane crashes, which is the very personal, up-front human experience of those people trying to survive." We really only see the spectacle that the media produces. We see the wreckage, the terrifying destruction, loss, sadness and hurt. We don't get told how these incredible people used their instincts in the best way they could, to save their lives, but unfortunately with no success.