HERE'S WHAT I DID WITH MY BODY ONE DAY till 4 March

HERE’S WHAT I DID WITH MY BODY ONE DAY: script by Dan Rebellato.
Runs: 1h 40m, no interval.
Birmingham Rep till 28 Jan and touring till 4 March.
Review: Rod Dungate, Birmingham Rep (The Door) 26 January 2006.
www.lightwork.org.uk

Terrific, thought-provoking, wickedly funny, moving.
I really like plays that make me think – and sometimes don’t enable me to come up with answers. It’s the contemplation of ideas I enjoy . . . and this remarkable piece of theatre from Lightwork promotes it in huge sweeps. But this is by no means a dry intellectual piece, it’s sharply funny and at times moving.

Dan Rebellato’s script (written in collaboration with the company through improvisation) loosely weaves together events leading up to the deaths of three French intellectuals; Rebellato provides a unifying framework of David, a leading genetic scientist, who goes to France to address a conference. The threads appear in broken snatches, they waft in and out of the narrative, seemingly at random; they make no sense, but as the narrative moves forwards they gradually come together, parallel stories are formed and the whole has an elusive meaning. The play posits a truth - but a truth we see as if in a dream.

The form of Lightwork’s play stands, in a way, as a strong metaphor for it’s central subject, the behaviour of DNA coding. But this extends and opens out in the play too . . . databases are downloaded onto phones and transferred to computers, a company that deals in everything ‘from genetic engineering to music sales’ wants to explore the use of our seemingly redundant ‘junk non-coding DNA’ for selling advertising space. How dark can you get – they make it sound so plausible

The whole piece is further layered with haunting video design (Douglas O’Connell); these provide a shifting backdrop to the action, never once distracting, always enlightening and deepening.

Holding our hand, as it were, taking us with him on his journey is genetic scientist David; played by Eric MacLennan, his slightly stooped, slightly shambolic portrait ensures we have every sympathy with him as he picks his way through his nightmare world.

Sharply directed by Andy Lavender, this is 110 per cent theatre.

Cast
David Annen
Eric MacLennan
Paul Murray
Danny Scheinmann

Director: Andy Lavender.
Designer/Video: Douglas O:Connell.
Lighting: Clare ODonoghue.
Sound: Gregg Fisher.
Movement: Ayse Tashkiran.
Costume: Kristie Macleod.

2006-01-27 11:44:17