It’s one of our most common idioms, but the phrase ‘lightning never strikes the same place twice’ is completely wrong. Lightning strikes the same place all the time. Sometimes, as cellist Zoë Barry knows, it can even strike the same person. 

Zoe Barry in The Nervous Atmosphere. Photo © Sarah Walker.

In the space of just over a year, Barry was struck three times. The Nervous Atmosphere represents her attempt to understand these chance encounters and the effect they had on her. Combining elements of spoken-word poetry and original compositions, the 70-minute exploration features moments of mesmerizing stage craft and stunning orchestrations. Despite an overladen script, it represents a towering technical achievement.

There’s that other common adage that says to find out the distance between you and a storm you simply have to count the seconds between lighting and thunder. It’s thunder that underscores our entrance into North Melbourne’s vacuous Arts House for this collaboration with Chamber Made. Barry sits front stage with her cello, indifferent as another sonorous peel...