SISTERS SUCH DEVOTED SISTERS Touring

SISTERS, SUCH DEVOTED SISTERS: Russell Barr
Runs: 1 hr, no interval
Touring
Review: Rod Dungate, Birmingham Rep, 24 February 2005

Inspired dark and funny in equal measuresRussell Barr's SISTERS SUCH DEVOTED SISTERS is inspired. As disturbing as it's funny, as painful as it's cathartic, it's hypnotic.

Barr, tall and solidly built wears a frock that looks as if it could be tissue paper, but this is no drag show, this is a man in a dress a trannie and this contrast sits in the centre of the performance; for this is an evening of contrasts.

With disarming ease Barr chats to us of his life (much of the show is autobiographical, though that's not really our business is it?) He recounts the experiences of a transvestite in Glasgow. His manner is disarming - chatty, he pours and drinks tea. He strings together a series of anecdotes full of detail, often, it seems, irrelevant detail. Only as the narrative progresses do we realise that there is a journey going on. There is a shape to this one-man show, and a deadly climax.

The world Barr's character inhabits is out of kilter. In a way it has to be, we are witnessing this world through the eyes of a transvestite. Sometimes this is funny and charming; like the idea of cleaners who wear gingham overalls that make them safe so they can put their hands down filthy toilets. More often though, it is heart-rendingly painful (as well as funny) because Barr's world is a violent, a brutally violent one.

The brutality may be casual youngsters feeding pigeons bread with baking powder on because it makes the pigeons explode. The brutality may be deeper the boyfriend that smacks his bloke round the face.

I wish Barr would lose the lighting fades and sound effects (other than the opening ones). Not only do they do little to help the performance, but they also, ironically, break into the worlds Barr creates for us his own context in the theatre and the world of his stories. They're an unnecessary distraction.

Barr's world, at our safe distance, has all the fascination of a public post mortem. And Barr adds one more facet, perhaps the post disturbing of all. Sudden silences. Unexplained, almost un-noted by the speaker, they are like dark ragged tears in this amazing tapestry. And they allow us frightening glimpses of the darknesses beyond.

Written and Performed: Russell Barr
Associate Director: Naomi Jones

2005-02-26 18:09:30