SPECTACULAR. To 15 November.

London.

SPECTACULAR
by Tim Etchells, Robin Arthur and Forced Entertainment.

Riverside Studios (Studio 2) To 15 November 2008.
Tue-Sat 8pm.
Runs 1hr 30min No interval.

TICKETS: 020 8237 1111.
www.riversidestudios.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 9 November.

Life and dying in the show that never puts in an appearance.
It’s the little things that tell: a paunchy skeleton rubbing his nose, patting his stomach. Talking to us, after an initial theatrical trick (only when he steps on to it do we see his actual height, and that the stage is raised). He offers a history of the show as it is on other nights.

In the absence of this alleged performance, the basic elements of acting are split between unnamed cast members. Robin Arthur walks the walk, casual in voice and mannerisms behind the grin-like lack of expression on his skeletal costume. Soon he’s joined by Claire Marshall, who adds the physical.

She may speak to Arthur quietly, asking for time or space to do her part, but that part is a mix of writhings and wordless vocalisations of suffering and grief. He’ll help out by laying the sole microphone on the floor by her mouth. But the point where it’s shown actions speak louder than words sees her physical suffering attracting notice upstage as he talks about holding an audience’s attention.

Ninety minutes should be far too much of this, calling for a reference to a sketch extended to full-length (though Forced Entertainment in full force can talk on far longer). But that’s not the case. Once again Tim Etchells and his company have mined an apparently thin seam without exhausting the material, despite the limited area of expression each performer’s allowed.

And Richard Lowdon’s set creates an epic sense out of deliberate denial of spectacle; two rows of red curtains tied up at the sides, nothing where there should, apparently, have been flowers, and otherwise emptiness. Only Nigel Edwards’ lighting, switching on and off around the performance with abrupt immediacy rather than the gracefully deliberate fading and brightening of theatre lighting, yet providing patches of light when required, has any plot to it.

Both performers hold audience attention through restraint, while Etchells’ script refers, often with a comic edge, to detailed aspects of performance recognisable to the fairly frequent theatregoer as to the actor, while building towards its overall ‘joke’, making the entertainment less forced than compulsive.

Performers Robin Arthur, Claire Marshall.

Director: Tim Etchells.
Designer: Richard Lowdon.
Lighting: Nigel Edwards.

2008-11-12 12:20:46