Monday 26 November 2012

Andre & Dorine, 16/11/12, Lowry Studio



What a wonderful night at the theatre this show turned out to be. The exquisite Andre & Dorine, presented by the Spanish theatre company Kulunka, was a masked piece about an elderly married couple, at the stage in their lives where familiarity has led to niggling annoyances with one another and competition for their son’s attention. But the routine of their existence is shattered by the cruel blow of Alzheimer’s, and the narrative moves between the disease’s increasing grip on Dorine, and flashbacks of their loving relationship from first date to married life and the creation of a family.

It’s the first time I had seen mask theatre, and I suspect I have been lucky enough to see it at its best already. The performances were incredibly skilful, conveying every nuance and emotion perfectly. The tiniest detail was brilliantly observed, and portrayed through subtle and finely judged performances from the cast of three – Jose Dault, Garbine Insausti and Edu Carcamo. 

The use of masks allowed seamless changes between scenes, in particular a nice use of flashbacks where the older Andre remembers his younger days and the blossoming relationship with the feisty Dorine. The detail of the performances was so fine that, although each performer took on multiple characters, each was perfectly realised and completely individual. There was even a section that included some fantastic puppet work as the son’s early years were shown.

The story itself was well constructed and very moving. Whilst the progression of the illness was absolutely heart-breaking, and told with brutal realism, humour was ever present, particularly in the flashback scenes, which in a way heightened the emotion of the piece overall. Hauntingly beautiful music added an additional dimension to the piece, and the masks and set were fabulous.

Either there were a lot of people with colds in the audience at the Lowry Studio that night, as there was a lot of sniffling and wiping of eyes going on, or most people were as moved as I was by this beautiful, moving and uplifting creation. Rather than handing out leaflets as we left, maybe the ushers should have been handing out tissues as there was more than one person shuffling out in tears! I was quite glad it was raining as I left the theatre as it disguised my tear stained face.

I really did think this performance was one of the most wonderful pieces of theatre I have seen in a long time, and it got a fabulous, and completely deserved, reaction from the Studio audience. I would love to see it again, it was so beautifully realised both in construction and performance. Simply gorgeous.

Monday 12 November 2012

Best of BE Festival, Lowry Studio 6/11/12



BE Festival (I think I’m right in saying the BE stands for Birmingham European) was first held in 2010. Its aim, according to their website, was to celebrate the difference and variety within Europe, but also the universal languages and experiences that unite us. It has done this over the last three years by bringing together diverse performances from artists and companies across Europe, that don’t necessarily rely on a common language or cultural references to connect with an audience and bring people together to celebrate both differences and similarities.

For the first time this year, three performances from the 2012 festival were chosen to tour the UK, and this visit to the Lowry Studio was the final stop on that tour. The event was nicely structured, almost as a mini festival in itself, with two performances, then a break for food and a chance to chat to other audience members and the artists, followed by the final piece, and a question and answer section with the companies, that allowed us to get an insight into the development processes for the pieces and the inspiration behind them.

L’Absent, by La Compagnie du Geste qui Sauve (Brussels)
This was a beautifully crafted piece of physical theatre created and performed by Antonin Descampe and Lievine Hubert. Apart from occasional interludes from the gorgeous voice of singer Liane Van De Putte, this was performed silently and you could have heard a pin drop in the Lowry Studio. The performance was absolutely captivating. A lady is in her home, and the gentleman shadows her movements, stepping into the place of various objects she interacts with such as a shower, a chair, and even, most beautifully, a dress that flows around her. It’s so cleverly done, illustrating how the influence of people can live on in the objects around us long after they leave, and has a really haunting and emotional twist towards the end. My only criticism of this piece is that it was too short and the final scene maybe a little hurried and I would have loved to have seen more. It is possible that it will be developed further and I really hope it is, it deserves it, and the skill of the performers in realising it so beautifully is awe inspiring.

Fantasy no 10: “The Beauty of Life” by Compagnia Vladimir Tzekov (Granada)
I had a little more problem falling in love with this piece! It is utterly bewildering, at times absurd, and with no fathomable narrative or structure. In the post-show discussion, it became clear that this was exactly what the company were aiming to create. They want to strip away all narrative, and challenge the audience’s reactions. They find it interesting to see how people react and want the audience to put their own individual interpretation on what is shown to them. I got the impression that success to them would be no two members of an audience having the same experience. To me it felt more like a piece of performance art than a theatre production, and performance art and I have never really gelled, the logical side of my brain is always shouting ‘but why’! There was no doubt that it was skilfully performed, and there were some very striking images that have stayed with me. The music was well used and there were some sections that were highly amusing, although I was never really clear whether I was meant to be amused. But there were also a few elements that I felt had been just included for the shock factor that really didn’t add to the piece, and as an audience member at times I felt I was being patronised. But that’s just my personal reaction, and as the post-performance discussion showed, my reaction was not typical of the audience as a whole.

Solfatara by A Tres Bandes (Barcelona)
The night ended on a high for me with this crazy and extremely funny piece, which won the audience prize at this year’s festival. It concerned a couple’s relationship and how simmering tensions can come to the surface, contrasting this with the behaviour of a volcano. As well as the couple in question, there is a third character on the stage, a masked man, a kind of inner voice, vocalising the unsaid tensions of both parties, and stirring them up to erupt and descend into chaos. I find it quite hard to describe what went on as its structure and performance were completely original, somewhat surreal at times and very, very funny. The performance was in Spanish and there was a genius use of surtitles which loosely followed the script but occasionally and quite hilariously veered off, for example when an argument was in full rapid fire flow and the surtitles admitted defeat. Interestingly, the company told us that the surtitles were not used as part of the piece in Spain, and a Spanish speaker in the audience commented on how much more they added to the piece even though she could follow the language.

Overall this night was a great opportunity to see some diverse pieces from across Europe and get a real feel for what the BE Festival is about. From what the festival directors were saying in the post-show discussion, they owe a debt of thanks to the Lowry Studio’s current programmer, Porl Cooper, for the advice, support and encouragement he has given them in bringing this to a wider audience outside Birmingham. Porl is moving on soon, and he will be a big loss to the Lowry, but I hope his influence lives on and exciting work like this continues to be brought to our doorstep.

Monday 5 November 2012

The Situation Room, 'Secret location', Salford 30/10/12



This production was another that was part of the InOnTheAct festival that has been taking place in Salford over the last couple of months. The festival has aimed to break the barriers between the audience and the performance, and has seen such diverse offerings as the intimacy of You OnceSaid Yes, and the playful eccentricity of Borderline Vultures. The Situation Room, presented by Oscar Mike Theatre, gives us yet another take on audience participation.

We arrive at a ‘secret Salford location’ (aka a wet and windy street corner in Salford just near Morrisons - we must have looked like the least menacing group of hoodies ever) and are ushered into a unused building where we are greeted by the actors and quickly and cleverly divided into two groups. The physical separation immediately introduces the sense of division and potential rivalry, even though at this stage we are not really sure what is about to unfold.

From there we are moved into the main performance space, a sparse room where the two groups sit on opposite sides of the performance area. The lighting is dark and atmospheric, and the nervous giggles of the audience show how effectively the tension has already been built.

It is explained that we are two rival nations in a military situation in the 1960s, and we meet our diplomats and advisors, Benjamin R Stokely (Simon Carroll-Jones), and Andrey Sergeyevich Budka (Robert Macpherson). Over the course of the evening we witness the development of the situation through their eyes, and the audience are cleverly involved in varying ways in the decision making that will have direct impacts on events and lives.
The production is really well constructed, it highlights the way the same events can be seen from different viewpoints, builds the tension effectively whilst combining it with elements of humour that draw the audience into the ‘game’, and highlights the terrible and complex choices that are made in the name of war, making you examine your own responses to those decisions.

The success of this production owes a lot to the cast, who both give well-judged and skilful performances. There is a point, towards the latter part of the production, where there is a dramatic change of mood which contrasts the ‘games’ that have been played with the realities of armed conflict. It’s a shift that requires a great deal of agility by the performers and is fantastically delivered. As an audience member it had a powerful effect on me, it left me feeling quite traumatised and really made me think. It’s a scene that will stay with me for a very long time.

All in all a cleverly crafted production, in a very atmospheric location complimented perfectly by the use of sound , and excellently delivered by the cast – a memorable experience on many levels.