HYSTERIA. To 27 October.

Tour.

HYSTERIA
by Lucinker Eisler, Giulia Innocenti and Ben Lewis.

Runs 1hr No interval.
Review: Alan Geary: 20 October 2007 at Lakeside Arts Nottingham.

Don’t go expecting straightforward theatre from this award-winning production.
Based on a T S Eliot poem, Hysteria might be one of the oddest plays around at present. It isn’t always obvious what it’s about; but acting is excellent, mime and sound effects brilliant.

A couple meet for a meal in a restaurant. The Waiter (Lucinka Eisler) is obsessive-compulsive - he counts his teeth after cleaning them - and neurotic about global warming. The Man (Ben Lewis) is a social scientist who’s terrified of social situations; he’s continually nipping out to do relaxation exercises. The Woman (Giulia Innocenti), an events organiser, is unsure of herself; she cleans her plate to the point of licking it. For some reason she carries in her handbag a banana, which at one point she proceeds to eat, and a red boa.

Don’t go expecting a straightforward piece of theatre. Now and again actions seem to slow down, which might be an indication that one’s experience of time is highly subjective.

Sometimes the play is funny, for instance when the couple are talking at cross-purposes about Turkey/turkey; but there’s also a feeling of desperate tragedy about the whole thing, some sort of comment, perhaps, on the human situation.

This Inspector Sands and Stamping Ground Theatre production won a Total Theatre award at Edinburgh last year. It shows.

Waiter: Lucinka Eisler.
Man: Ben Lewis.
Woman: Giulia Innocenti.

Associate Director: Joseph Alford.
Designer: Yukiko Tsukamoto.
Lighting: Katherine Williams.

2007-10-16 01:48:10