GONE MISSING. To 22 May.
London
GONE MISSING (A SHOW ABOUT THINGS LOST AND FOUND)
by Steven Cosson with members of The Civilians additional text by Peter Morris Music and Lyrics by Michael Friedman
Gate Theatre To 22 May 2004
Runs 1hr 25min One interval
TICKETS: 020 7229 0706
Review: Timothy Ramsden 10 May
From New York, The Civilians bring stylishly told, docu-style tales of civilians bereft.The events in this show are so ludicrous they'd have to be - yet can't be - true. Laura loses her Gucci trainer, searching everywhere (internet included). Gucci or no, there's a point where buying another had to be simpler. It's not like losing a dog.
There are lost dogs, including one that gnawed through electric fencing. Who's trying to fool whom? And what's the idea behind the six performers' clone-clothing, dark suits and specs? Loss brings people together in an anonymous society? Or documentary retelling reduces people or stage or media icons?
There's absurdity in the innocence of people's pronouncements - the Midwesterner who'll drive half a day to pick up his beloved pet, but won't expect to see Fido in heaven, cos there's nothing in the Bible says dogs have souls.
Then the Gucci trainer turns up in a taxi turns out to have been in Laura's bag all along, hidden in a separate pocket and only falling out when all the other contents tumble into said space, seeming lost themselves.
Strange reality or the strangeness of Reality performance? New York company The Civilians bring a piece that catches the way theatre turns real-life detail into mannered performance. Docu-drama makes average lives significant. Yet its stage-tricks process raw material into something new.
As this cast shows brilliantly, aided by Duncan Wisbey fingering a nifty keyboard to the witty, interspersed songs. There's the infill of voice and body expression when people emphasise to casual detail, the uncertainties (neat comedy of the man with serious losses that don't happen to fit the interviewer's requirements), the sudden revelation of human dignity and vulnerability as an unassertive personality hits the spotlight. The action catches documentary's fast-paced, episodic inter-cutting between stories, impatiently manipulating them to create editorial significance.
And the content-free inadequacy of professional communicators. An expert on Atlantis the sort of half-barmy subject local radio loves - is interviewed; the prof.'s played by several actors, highlighting the radio presenter's inadequacy, with questions born from profoundly simplistic ignorance. Ironically, the more it strains credulity, the more Gone Missing ushers in an underlying feel of true experience.
Performers:
Damian Baldet, Maria Dizzia, Christina Kirk, Trey Lyford, Mark Saturno, Alison Weller
Piano: Duncan Wisbey
Director: Steven Cosson
Designer: Takeshi Kata
Lighting: Thomas Dunn/Anna Watson
Sound: Ken Travis
Choreographer: Jim Augustine
Costume: Sarah Beers
2004-05-14 12:40:05