White Noise | Touch Compass
Image: Jade Ellis
White noise can refer to constant background sound, particularly that which drowns out other sounds. For people living with a disability, their personal ‘white noise’ might be the challenge of hearing, being heard, seeing or being seen. Alisha McLennan Marler of Touch Compass, the White Noise lead creator, choreographic collaborator and performer, has created a memorable work that communicates aspects of lived experience as a mother with disability. In inviting audiences into Alisha’s world, White Noise also encourages us all to ‘consider our place in the conversation.’
Image: Jade Ellis
The excellent Easy English program describes White Noise as including dance and circus. I came away describing it as performance art; dance and circus are at the centre of a show, but it is an all-encompassing artistic event that incorporates voice, animation, art, microphone manipulation, and an excellent soundscape.
The Diane Cilento Studio is a great choice for the world premiere of this new work, being at the same time intimate but also having sufficient room for the performer to move around. Alisha makes full use of the space, with movement that includes the use of aerial hammock silks, ‘writing’ on the floor and mirrored wall, and dancing with and against a wheelchair.
The White Noise set is deceptively simple, with upstage reflective surfaces that the performer confronts, moves against and ‘writes’ over—and in which we in the audience are always looking at our own reflections and thinking about how we are part of what is being shared. The technical aspects of the show really enhance the overall experience, particularly when Alisha’s drawings and animated images are also projected onto the set and silks (set and lighting design by Bradley Gledhill, Filament 11 AV).
White Noise also makes clever use of what feels like a ‘fourth dimension,’ with a great soundscape that includes the clever use of recordings, the sounds of rain and water, and a pulsing electronic ‘heartbeat’ (soundscape composed by Andrew McMillan). The manipulation of a corded microphone was particularly impressive in dance moves that included the microphone ‘interaction’ with the dragged wheelchair, generating some sudden squarks and noises—communicating to me the senses of the challenges and frustrations of being seen as a wheelchair user.
Image: Geoff Lawrence
Sadly there were only two opportunities to experience White Noise in the 2025 Undercover Artist Festival, which means that I feel I can introduce a spoiler and reflect on my main personal takeaway from this performance. The show includes several points where Alisha is connecting with a child—communicated through words, dance, movement, and projected animation. I found this exploration of the reciprocal relationship between a parent and a child to be particularly special. Throughout the show, recorded and spoken word reflected how the artist felt they were often ‘talking through water’ or ‘through bubble wrap,’ making the concluding aerial movement particularly special when Alisha speaks about knowing that the child understands and hears her mother: ‘always you hear me through the white noise.’
At the Friday curtain call a small child walked confidently onto the stage, to present the Alisha with a congratulatory gift—as an echo of the earlier words of the artist that, ‘sometimes, I feel you know when […] I need a hug.’ Thanks to Alisha, and to the Touch Compass team, for bringing this bold, thought-provoking, and insightful new art work to the Undercover Artist Festival.
White Noise played 25 & 26 September 2025 at the Diane Cilento Studio, Queensland Theatre, as part of the 2025 Undercover Artist Festival. 45 minutes, no interval. The reviewer attended the Friday 26th September performance (4:00pm).
Image: Jade Ellis
