Reviewed by Shona Jau­nas

Back to Square One invites you into con­ver­sa­tion between 95 year old Inga’s liv­ing room in Den­mark and her grand­son, Anders Fal­stie-Jensen in New Zealand.

It starts with the audi­ence all writ­ing their names on the stage front in chalk which imme­di­ate­ly brings us into the space; we are all involved in this dis­cus­sion. Through the play Fal­stie-Jensen keeps bring­ing us into his con­ver­sa­tions with Inga and thoughts as he dis­cuss­es the mean­ing of liv­ing on this earth through Dan­ish folk sto­ries and inter­pre­ta­tions of the mul­ti-gen­er­a­tional response to the Covid lock­downs. He uses the stage and chalk as a visu­al rep­re­sen­ta­tion keep­ing us on track as he mean­ders through what it means to feel iso­la­tion, be far away from fam­i­ly and deal with fear.

This is a non-pre­ten­tious moment of truth. Fal­stie-Jensen presents this sto­ry as a shared expe­ri­ence and invites us to even­tu­al­ly ques­tion whether going “Back to Square One?” is the next step in our jour­ney or whether there is anoth­er option. Per­haps we could be bet­ter?

If you are look­ing for an epiphany, then this is not the play for you but if you would like to par­take in a shared expe­ri­ence that may reflect and extend your ideas of how the lock­downs affect­ed you and the world that fol­lows then this is a warm and gen­er­ous invi­ta­tion into one family’s expe­ri­ence.  Fal­stie-Jensen is relaxed in his sto­ry telling style and his gen­uine pos­i­tive atti­tude is infec­tious.

The cake is real­ly, real­ly good, appar­ent­ly a very dif­fi­cult to make Dan­ish dan­ish.  The chance to talk and have cof­fee togeth­er after the show only adds to its sense of tak­ing us all on a jour­ney togeth­er.

I went on a Sun­day after­noon and it was a per­fect way to reflect on not only Fal­stie-Jensen and Inga’s con­ver­sa­tions but that yes, we have just all been through a glob­al pan­dem­ic togeth­er and maybe we should reeval­u­ate the world we live in.

Cir­ca Two — Sat 3rd – Sun 11th Sep­tem­ber, Tues – Sat 7.30pm; Sun 4.30pm

$25 – $35 (and $50 com­bo tick­et avail­able for 2 Tahi Fes­ti­val shows at Cir­ca)
Get your tick­ets here.