MIND OUT. To 29 November.
London.
MIND OUT
devised by Station house Opera
Station House Opera at BAC (Council Chamber) Lavender Hill SW11 5TN To 29 November 2008.
Thu-Sat 7.30pm.
Runs 1hr 5min No interval.
TICKETS: 020 7223 2223.
www.bac.org.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 15 November.
Actions speak louder than words. Perhaps.
How many individual actions are made in a day, even by someone who’s lying down or asleep much of the time? How many are involved in what might be thought of as a single thing, like making a cup of tea? It’s easy to lose count in Station House Opera’s new performance piece (neither play, nor opera, and certainly not stationary).
It opens with an apparently inexperienced usher, who’s instructed in every part of his ticket-and-greeting role. And continues over an hour with each action spoken out by one performer, then being enacted by another. Sometimes it’s clear who will do the action, sometimes not.
These are not commands, but a descriptive expression of the decisions an individual’s brain silently makes, sometimes too fast for them to realise they’ve consciously thought what to do. Separated from the enacter, words have a calm rational sound.
This becomes more noticeable as the actions begin to involve relationships. There are no defined characters, the performers’ own names being used, and attitudes as such aren’t expressed. Neither motive nor subtext plays a part. This, and the calmly spoken information about impending actions, contrasts the moments of sudden physical aggression and opposition, a theft or a practical joke, the several times someone’s laid out on the floor after an assault.
Speaking, yet denuded of voices that match or explain their actions, the figures on stage acquire a strange detachment. Action parts from motivation. Cruelty is clarified; even if, in most situations, that cruelty would more likely come in words than the actions seen here.
Eventually, words start coming more profusely. For not all actions can be described simply. Qualifications, sub-clauses and extensions are called for. Or, words are not enough. One person describes another’s experience as she voyages round the building, returning with a 3-piece band she’s discovered - or had discovered for her – on the way. They enter and entertain with a set of pieces.
Why? Well, why not? Surprising, even inexpressible things happen. That’s life. And this is theatre that extends the language of performance in a way that’s well worth listening to.
Performers: Zena Birch, Tom Bowtell, Susannah Hart, Julian Maynard Smith, Helen Morse Palmer.
Musicians: Dan Darling and his Lovely Chaps.
Director: Julian Maynard Smith.
Lighting: Susannah Hart.
2008-11-17 17:16:23