HANG ON To 25 April.
London.
HANG ON
by Theatre-Rites and Ockham’s Razor.
Lyric Theatre Hammersmith To 25 April 2009.
7pm Mat Thu 1.30pm Sat 2.30pm.
Audio-described Sat 2.30pm.
Runs 1hr 5min No interval.
Tickets: 0871 22 117 22.
www.lyric.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 22 April.
Aspirational playground on stage.
Great as is my admiration for the work of audio-describers, this Saturday afternoon’s Hammersmith performance by object and physical theatre company Theatre-Rites, collaborating with aerial artists Ockham’s Razor, will be a tough assignment, for most things are visual here.
People hang-on all right; largely from the ‘mobiles’ (not portable telephones but hanging scenic elements, like oversized coat-hangers) that appear, sometimes with red balls joining their edges. Largely devoid of the safety-harnesses in which most actors are strapped when ascending stage heights, Ockham’s Razor twist themselves around, through or inside these curved-edge triangles.
Bounced along and given variety by Olly Fox’s score and Michael Mannion’s lighting, the mobiles emerge as a challenge – the relationship between object and performer recalls Samuel Beckett’s wordless pieces, though here there’s more hope and smiles. And a story of kinds running behind events, concerning girls’ and boys’ tentative attractions and nervous approaches to each other.
The red balls take on a performing life too, either being juggled by several cast members collectively (with remarkable co-ordination) or by Stefano di Renzo. The larger ones tend to turn into musical sources for percussionist Nao Masuda, whose confident drumming ends the show on what would be a high note, except the percussion’s untuned and the performers, at last, all on the ground. But on a loud note, certainly.
As in any group of youngsters, there’s one who doesn’t fit. Eric MacLennan begins proceedings by talking to the audience. He’s also first to examine the jackets that hang in a line on the first hangers. But none fits him, till the happy end. And he stays odd-one-out, afraid of heights, aware of all the terrible possibilities of something going wrong. He’s the earthbound sceptic to be, who’s listened in physics lessons, has a future as a Health & Safety official and meanwhile isolates himself among even these well-intentioned peers by not taking risks in the name of experiment or fun.
The show’s significance emerges gradually; but while the Lyric’s stage is technically well-equipped for the show, its auditorium’s formal tip-up seating and distance from the performers doesn’t help younger audience-members.
Performers: Stefano di Renzo, Alex Harvey, Tina Koch, Eric MacLennan, Nao Masuda, Charlotte Mooney.
Director: Sue Buckmaster.
Designer (Objects)/Costume: Tina Bicat
Designer (mobiles): Ockham’s Razor.
Lighting: Michael Mannion.
Sound: Nick Manning..
Composer: Olly Fox.
Choreographer: Alex Broadie.
Dramaturg: Philippe Cherbonnier.
2009-04-23 12:43:19