Reviewed by Paul Treasure
Great art doesn’t give us answers. Great art makes us ask questions. Great art makes us examine our viewpoints. Whether or not we actually shift our viewpoints is irrelevant, it is the examination of them that is important. If this is the yardstick we are using, then Ultimate Safari is definitely a great piece of art.
On paper, the show has quite a simple concept. The audience sits on stools in the middle of the theatre space, wearing virtual reality headsets, while a small group of actors narrate what we are viewing. In between each video, the actors talk to the audience and act out brief scenes. Seems very simple, yes? But Ultimate Safari is far more than just this concept.
Ostensibly, the experience promises a guided tour of the Serengeti Plain and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. The VR segments in the early part of the performance are stunning, showing the vast sweeping plains and beautiful landscape. While we are immersed in this world the production very cleverly employs our other senses as well. One segment, situated at the lookout, has a coffee van parked in the car park. During this section, the cast brings freshly brewed coffee into the space, so as well as seeing we can also actually smell the coffee. Another segment is filmed during a soft misty rain, and the audience is lightly sprayed with water so we actually feel the mist. These very clever little tricks are very effective in bringing us into the world we are being shown, which also helps some of the later segments hit even harder as we are aware that this is not fiction.
Early on in the experience, the performers start giving us a history of the area from the founding of the Serengeti National Park in 1940. The ongoing historical fragments give us a glimpse of life in post-colonial Tanzania, and by extension the challenges for other countries dealing with their post-colonial legacy. About halfway through the experience things become more real and more troubling as we are forced to examine our preconceived notions about the brutal realities of conservation. While protecting the iconic wildlife of Northern Tanzania is vitally important to the world, we rarely stop to consider the practicalities of how to achieve it. While a wealthy first world, such as our own, can more easily finance conservation efforts, it is far more difficult for impoverished and exploited former colonies to strike this balance. One of the more confronting points of Ultimate Safari comes as we stop for lunch. We are given a choice whether you put your glasses back on to experience a proper colonial lunch or leave them off for a more contemporary menu. Putting your goggles on you become a 19th-century hunter/explorer being walked in by your native servants on a sedan chair, to a beautiful waterfall-fed pool area. Leaving the goggles off the actors approach you with a laminated menu, of how much money it will cost to be able to trophy hunt some of the local wildlife. As abhorrent as the entire concept of trophy hunting is to this reviewer, the realisation that one elephant could easily pay the yearly wages of a dozen rangers for an entire year is extremely confronting.
The latter parts of the safari become even more eye-opening and challenging as we are given a first-hand explanation of the experience of the Maasai people as their traditional lands are slowly being taken from them for more and more conservation areas. We are asked to examine how some well-meaning conservation efforts totally disregard the traditional custodians of the land and their needs in favour of the animals. To their immense credit, Ultimate Safari does not tell you what to think about these issues, but it does force you to confront your preconceived ideas and examine whether or not they come from a place of first-world privilege or not.
It is rare that such a simple concept, achieved brilliantly through virtual reality technology, can have such a profound effect on an audience. This reviewer left with his worldview disrupted and shaken, which is a true sign of a great piece of art.
Reviewer Note: Tickets for this review were provided by Perth Festival.
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