THE PILOTS. To 3 December.

Tour.

THE PILOTS
by Mole Wetherell.

Reckless Sleepers Tour to 3 December 2008.
Runs: 55min No interval.
Review: Alan Geary 9 October at Lakeside Arts Centre Nottingham.

An hour of self-indulgence - for the actors that is. Interesting nonetheless.
As you watch this hour-long show those two words 'self' and 'indulgence' refuse to go away. And no, it’s not the audience that’s being self-indulgent.

That said, Nottingham-based Reckless Sleepers, an Anglo-Belgian company, are attempting something quite interesting here. They seem to be analysing the whole idea of what, precisely, theatre is, and what are its boundaries.

On what looks like a rehearsal space, two actors appear to be in the very early stages of preparing a show. Soon it turns out that what you’re seeing is the show itself. But, later, evidently it isn’t because one actor or the other interrupts proceedings. Then the interruption turns out to be part of the show. And so it goes on: the whole thing becomes either a nonsensical jumble or an anarchic hall of mirrors where mirrors are reflected in the mirrors.

For some reason, George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley are brought in - at the end a ludicrously camp Wham video is back-projected; so is David Bowie. And there’s the idea that the actors are pilots who, like the audience, don’t know where they’re going.

By the close of the play, or whatever it is, the two actors are dressed as scruffily unconvincing airline pilots.

Cast: Tim Ingram, Mole Wetherell.

Devised by: The Cast.

2008-10-11 11:41:16