Cryptically, Performance Art which touches me always seems just slightly out of my reach… minimally but distantly un-understandable, despite how I strive for elucidation. Ergo, artists who create work which elicits a response in me, often appear to have secret knowledge. An understanding and a private world of which their creation is only an echo. Watching FEMME FATALE, the opening show of Old 505’s Freshworks Season, is 50 beautifully realised minutes of wanting to know more.

There is clarity and obfuscation in this space where three women await the audience yet don’t acknowledge or respond to the influx of viewers. They appear lost in their contemplation of their reflection in an evocative set . When the performance begins, we understand that we know them. Any good feminist knows Lilith, Adam’s first wife from Jewish folkloric tradition. Eve, the Biblical wife of Adam is also there. The other woman is Pandora, in Greek mythology the first female creation of the Gods. All are known for their misdeeds in leaving Adam, eating the apple and opening the jar to unleash evil in the world.

CLARE HENNESSY’s text does rely on an audience’s identification of these characters but then Director CARISSA LICCIARDELLO moulds and shapes them into an accessible and enthralling production, much as the two of the players create Pandora from earth and clay.  The manipulation of a woman by women in the guise of Gods was creepy and fraught with modern redolence.

Aided by a superbly placed music score by HANNAH CHEERS the audience is immersed in trying to understand the women. There is story enough to hold the attention, there are monologues to show the interior world. But it is the stylisation, movement and physicality which travel the show and give the moments of clarity. The movement is superb. The slow, grasping, arched bodies of the mother/child sequence was a highlight for me and I really responded to ambiance of classic stillness and statuary.

The three performers, also credited under creation and devising, REBECCA DAY, HENRIETTE TKALEC AND TIFFANY HOY have terrific command of all the elements of the work. They modulate their volume well in the small space, use strong stagecraft as they negotiate the intricate flown set pieces and have unerring and slightly uncanny physical control over the group movement. However an ensemble feel was somewhat lacking overall, possibly due to costumes which set one of the characters apart and a lighting design that paints with broad strokes. This does not diminish the power of the work.

Or the intangible longing which I feel to explore the mythologies of Lilith, Eve and Pandora. FEMME FATALE is one of those rare artworks which inspires me to break into the room of understanding against which I have pressed my nose.

FEMME FATALE by Leftofcentre Theatre Company continues at Old 505, 5 Eliza Street, Newtown until 23rd January.