KISS MY ECHO. bac to 17 March.
London
KISS MY ECHO
by The Clod Ensemble
The Clod Ensemble at bac To 17 March 2002
Tues-Sat 8pm Sun 6pm
Runs 1hr 10min No interval
TICKETS 020 7223 2223
Review Timothy Ramsden 3 March
Science can inform but never explain Life; similarly, this devised piece intrigues without being revelatory.This is the sort of piece I find it hard to sum up. It's clearly intelligent, skilfully devised and performed and you can't deny it makes a point of two. If you're passing, call in and see it.
But is it worth making a journey for? How many of its points are really news to us? That hospital treatment, with all its science and clinical purity, dehumanises its beneficiaries? Of three patients, one gets sat on a toilet, liquid poured down his throat as a tribe of medics stare at his reaction. He ends up in a refuse bin. Another pads around in a decontamination suit before smearing herself in grey goo, while the other, getting off lightly, rolls foetally around on the floor.
Or do we need to be told about doctors and nurses, tired by overwork, frustrated by bureaucracy and unprofessional liaisons behind the bright professional manner?
That leaves the piece's other stratum, speculation about the body/mind dualism. It's fascinating, and in a final account of a definite don't-try-this-at-home amateur experiment on the brain, lugubriously quease-making.
But does this really need all the theatrical rollicking, the five piece strings and piano band – including a percussionist who spends much time conducting the others despite the fact they never seem to look at him?
It's what I think of as vamp-till-ready theatre; well performed and with an undercurrent of interest but not in the end sufficient by itself. Doubtless I'll have eleven performers hurling clods after me for such a dismissive term. It's not meant to dismiss anyone, just to be a note to the Clods that research and theatrical sophistication have their limits. This is a capable company, but we still await their big tune.
Cast:
Zoe Bywater
Sarah Cameron
Colin Carmichael
Sam Kenyon
Catherine Marmier
Luke Williams
'cello: Louise Dearsely
Violin: Calina de la Mare
Piano: John Paul Gandy
Percussion: James Keane
Viola: Rose Redgrave
Director: Suzy Willson
Designer: Sarah Blenkinsop
Lighting: Aideen Malone
Music: Paul Clark
Words: John Binias (with extracts from Vasko Popa and Robert Burton)
2002-03-04 13:41:17