LEAVE NO TRACE. To 14th March 2003.
Leave No Trace
by Rachael Walton and the Company.
Third Angel on tour to 14 March 2003
www.thirdangel.co.uk
Runs 1hr 5min No interval
Review Mark Courtice 18 February at Portsmouth College Studio Theatre
Work at the cutting edge makes a faint impression.Third Angel’s show is about Dissociative Fugue - that strange phenomenon when people disappear, start up a new life somewhere else, and then as suddenly disappear again. The company work with performance, moving image, visual art, and in a development for them, devised text.
It is well researched, there is a clear artistic purpose in mind, there are some glimpses of interesting performance from capable people. So why does the sum of all this fail to make an impression?
There is a lot of talking – often amusing, beguiling and informative - but not much to look at. There is knowledge aplenty, but no insight. So, for instance, a long sequence (cleverly done with great physical control) about the body language of a lie is all about how, not why.
The DF phenomenon occurs mainly to men, so it is surprising that the two performers are women. They are good, however. Their movement work is minutely observed and intriguing, the chunks of knowledge made more digestible by skilful humour, and the impression is given that there are performance tigers being caged by the material. The minimalist music by Lee Sykes is effective and to the point.
The set is a clean uncluttered IKEA furnished consulting room. In practical terms the space is constricting as it is wide and flat, so the movement and dynamic is across the stage, with the downstage option denied to the performers. A large screen at the back on which scratchy images flicker and disappear, seems underused as the images serve only to repeat the dialogue by visually representing verbal images. One sequence, that of a screen full of signatures (practising the new identity – like a schoolgirl trying out a married name) that fade from view, did work well, however.
At an hour and five minutes this seems a very leisurely investigation of one of those strange glitches in the brain scan of humankind, disappointing in that the potential of skilful performers working at the meeting point between theatre, film and art ought to leave a more lasting trace on the minds of the audience.
Performed by Abigail Davies and Rachael Walton
Directors: Alexander Kelly and Rachael Walton
Lighting: James Harrison
Art Direction: Russ Barson
Composer: Lee Sykes at Vortex Music
2003-02-23 10:33:54