CLOSE TO HOME. To 30 April.

Tour

CLOSE TO HOME true stories of longing and belonging
by Daniel Jamieson with story contributions from Taylan Halici and Jordan Whyte

Theatre Alibi Tour to 30 April 2005
Runs 1hr 20min No interval
Review Hazel Brown 14 April 2005 at Bridport Arts Centre

Heart-warming, heart breaking stories and performances.In a new kind of work for Theatre Alibi, Daniel Jamieson has woven together true stories, creating documentary-type theatre about what home' means in a world where many people are uprooted. The stories strike home, creating a heart-warming and heart-breaking piece of theatre.

The three actors play travelers, coming together in a sort of no-man's land, perhaps on a pier near a beach, acting out their stories. Each carries their home in rucksacks or battered suitcases, pulling out props or puppets.

Kate was uprooted aged 6 from a warm home in small-town Oz to return to her father's birthplace in cold Cumbria. Her parents split up, mother returning to her Australian homeland. We experience Kate's keenly-felt difference and isolation during her English schooldays and her fear that her mother might die (like her much-loved grandmother) when she is not there.

Young, book-loving Turk Deniz leaves his lover behind in Istanbul, fleeing persecution for his radical ideas. Book pages lining the walls of the temporary home he creates in a London theatre. In one wonderful scene, 4-year old Deniz curls up in his grandfather's lap (Jordan Whyte in a huge coat lined with book pages) to listen to stories.

In North West England, Anglo-Indian Neil is sent to a children's home. Adopted by another Anglo-Indian family, he finds happiness watching the Muppets (Muppet-style puppets skillfully illustrate his early life). Later, he has a life-changing experience in his adoptive father's Indian home village - a wonderful home' video of Calcutta contrasts the Grand Hotel where they stay and life in a rural village. After waking to see children and old people of the streets Neil cannot eat his Hotel breakfast.

Echoes bind these stories together while a final scene of quiet hospitality assembles the characters in quiet reflection. There are some wonderful poems and beautiful a capella singing. Stuart Nunn provides a vertiginous set: rickety wooden steps with a bridge section swinging round to place the actors high above the audience, just their faces peeking over the edge, underline how precarious their lives are. A memorable and enchanting piece of theatre.

Deniz: Taylan Halici
Neil: Azeem Nathoo
Katie: Jordan Whyte

Director: Dorinda Hulton
Designer: Stuart Nunn
Lighting: Marcus Bartlett
Sound: Duncan Chave
Composer/Musical Director: Helen Chadwick

2005-04-18 12:35:47