A breathtaking journey of self-reflection: THE MIRROR comes to Canberra

Posted on 18 March, 2025

In just one hour and 15 minutes sitting in the Canberra Theatre, you’ll have your mind blown with gravity defying acts, and leave with discoveries of self.

Intrigued? So am I.

THE MIRROR by Gravity & Other Myths promises a show unlike anything you’ve seen before, focused on the journey of the human experience.

Pushing the limits of the human body’s capabilities in a powerful spectacle of jaw-dropping acrobatics, nostalgic song and cutting-edge technology, THE MIRROR attempts to peel back our layers of self-image, exposing both the nourishing and sinister aspects of modern life that shape us daily.

Over three days from Thursday 10 April to Saturday 12 April, Canberra will get to witness the exploration of the extremes people will go to please others and the unveiling of  the hidden parts of humanity that make us unique.

According to the talented composer and singer for the show’s soundtrack, Ekrem Eli Phoenix – who’s an internationally acclaimed, award-winning Australian composer, musical director, producer and researcher – the show challenges the audience to self-reflect.

Credit: Daniel Boud.

“THE MIRROR is about really confronting oneself whether you want it or not and doing it with humour, courage, vulnerability and all of the emotions and spectrums of humanity,” Ekrem shares.

He explains that the show, structured in the format of a cabaret, centres itself around something all of us can relate to.

“It goes deeper and deeper into the ideas of performance, humanity and identity because, we perform in real life … when we go out to work, when we show up at a friend’s [place] or when we simply walk down the street.”

“It’s always a kind of self that we present and that is performance at its core really.”

For someone who’s never created a pop song, being the composer was an exciting experience, Ekrem explains.

“It [was] completely new for me, because I’m a composer by trade and normally I compose classical pieces for choirs and orchestras but this particular show takes on pop music as a genre and it was a first for me and I loved it, I can’t go back now!”

His process for creating the music you’ll hear on stage was a collaborative one.

“I was asking questions like ‘What is current at the moment’ and ‘What kind of musical forms speak to people at this particular point’ and on a cast level, I reached out to my castmates and said, ‘What are the three songs that have been pivotal for you in your life.’”

“Once I had collected this information, then it was just about interpreting this data and translating it into music and interfacing with the concepts that we were experimenting with.”

If you’re watching the show, thinking to yourself, ‘Gosh that song sounds familiar?’ or ‘Why did I recognise that lyric?’, there’s a simple answer.

“I have put around 100 Easter eggs into the music, so you will feel like ‘Oh, that is from this or is it from this or is it from this 14^th century Madrigal?’” he says.

“The songs are originals, except a couple of covers, but you will find threads within it that will feel familiar, and I think that also goes to how we approach the identity, it’s a collection of things that we’ve read, heard and what we think to be true over our lifetime.”

“Come and find me after the show and tell me [what you heard and recognised]!” Ekrem laughs.

The cast have been working with this show since 2022, after an intense eight-week rehearsal period where they developed a strong sense of trust.

“It was physical, acrobatic rehearsals as well as music. It always goes hand in hand for me. Altogether, it was about seven to eight weeks and then we just polished it over multiple seasons since our premier in Germany.”

Credit: Andy Phillipson.

Since their opening, the show has travelled to Canada, all around Europe, Sydney, Darwin, Perth, Adelaide and soon, Canberra!

Despite performing for so many audiences, Ekrem says sharing the story with Australian crowds is always a highlight.

“It’s a show that reaches everybody on a level, but there is an inherent Australian humour in this show that is a joy to perform to Australian audiences, the reception is so warm, you feel like ‘Yeah, I’m home.’”

“I love Canberra audiences, I’ve done a couple of things for them in the past, both classical and other and I feel like the audiences in Canberra have an eye and an ear that can really go deeper into a piece and the conversation that you have with the audience afterwards is gold.”

As for what it’s like getting to be the singer for the show?

“I feel like I’m living in a dream. … As a musician, and as the composer, I feel like I am very well cared for on stage physically because I am incorporated in acrobatics as well.”

“It feels like I can experiment, I can interpret the songs differently, I can discover new things within them,” Ekrem says.

“As a singer, that excites me because singing is really sculpting thought and emotion through voice and to be able to do that is just wonderful.”

In a show that’s been travelling for three years, Ekrem uses each performance as chance to look for the little things that have changed since the premier.

“It is about looking at what is happening on stage and finding ‘Oh this skill used to happen elsewhere, now it happens here and now it plays with the music in a different way and I interpret this differently.’”

“Finding those little adjustments from my castmates and being in awe of it, just going ‘Wow this means something quite different, maybe this is grief rather than joy or maybe this is loss rather than existential awe.’”

“These sorts of tiny things make a massive change in interpretations.”

With tricks that’ll leave you gasping in awe, songs that’ll leave you thinking ‘Where is that lyric from?’ and a surprising and uplifting story which will reveal discoveries about yourself, this is a show you won’t want to miss!

Feature image: Andy Phillipson.