I am Marlene Dietrich, says the man in a pink suit standing in the middle of the stage, with a screen adjusted around his head and a projector aimed straight at his face. The man is Mamoru Iriguchi, the creator of 4D Cinema, a half-performance, half-film production presented at the Fringe Festival. The illusion is made complete by the addition of 4D glasses – but revealing their true nature would spoil half the fun, so I will ask you to believe me if I tell you that it’s a success.
After all, first and foremost, 4D Cinema is an exercise in believing: believing that Marlene Dietrich is there, on stage, in the body of a medium, in all her glamour and red heels; believing that you can rewind time like a film reel, and restore her eternity to a German idol who died in solitude in Paris; believing that the stage is a space where you can see simultaneously in two, three and even four dimensions – with a few tricks.
The balance is a delicate one to conjure, but it works. I wouldn’t want you to think that you should take this too seriously, though – in addition to its poetic quality, Iriguchi’s performance is also full of humour, and you leave the room feeling both moved and light-hearted, and with an urge to go and watch The Blue Angel again.