You Were In My Dream Last Night theatre review: Dream logic unravels
Bobbie Viney’s Berlin-set solo show drifts through insomnia, memory and imagination
Entering a dream is a complete mystery: the unknown of what you’ll face, who you’ll meet, your mind leading you down a torrent of possibilities. But Bobbie Viney welcomes onlookers to her euphoric, vivid, and strange dreams with a sense of warmth.
Tucked inside her apartment, a world away in Berlin, Viney (who hasn’t slept in three days) leads the audience down a rabbit hole of dreamscapes. From impulsively following a man with face tattoos, to watching a murder of crows sitting peacefully in a tree, to reminiscing over conversations with loved ones, there is a lot to unpack and absorb. Accompanied by colourful, intense lighting, a keyboard and a head full of ideas, You Were In My Dream Last Night creates a fragmented, liminal atmosphere, where it is difficult to discern what is reality, what is in Viney’s head, and whether figuring that out even matters. Yet, underneath this cloud of haziness is a sense of introspection where Viney weaves love, grief and death together, noting the profundity where all three overlap. Those little things that often go unnoticed: the strangers we pass on the street, how they subconsciously live inside and appear in our dreams, remnants of finding yourself in a very messy world.
Viney’s creative vision can be seen and felt but shifts in focus (before an idea is fully executed) coupled with audience interactions that break the hypnotic trance all leave a sort of puzzled longing. With a little more structure and exploration, You Were In My Dream Last Night has the power to completely lay itself bare, helping audiences decipher those feelings that wash over when sleep-deprived, or lost in a dream.
You Were In My Dream Last Night concluded at The Chapel in The Courtyard of Curiosities at the Migration Museum on March 22.