The Caucasian Chalk Circle ****
3BUGS weave a convincing illusion of thrown-togetherness around their production of Brecht’s scathing polemic against class and wealth divides.
Pas Perdus ****
Do many hands make light work, or do too many cooks spoil the broth? Les Argonautes seem determined to find out, and do it entirely through trial and error.
Silent Cannonfire ***
This piratical production is performed entirely without spoken dialogue, instead mimed and mummed to a live soundtrack of sea shanties.
Pedal Pusher ****
It’s notoriously difficult to choke verbatim theatre into life on stage, but you wouldn’t guess that from watching Pedal Pusher.
The Harbour ***
Peter, a fisherman, falls for a selkie (a seal-woman) he finds in his nets.
The Vanishing Horizon ****
Idle Motion stick to their winning formula.
Un/Familiar Fringe: Un/Afraid
In part 3 of my Fringe round-up for the London Theatre Blog, I look at the relationship between physical theatre and technology, highlighting anomie by Precarious and Borges and I by Idle Motion.
anomie ***
Unlike Precarious’ masterpiece The Factory, anomie – which follows six social misfits living in the same apartment building – lacks strong thematic justification for its technical wizardry, so while the integration of screen and performer is an undeniable triumph of pinpoint timing and rehearsal, it can also feel like a gimmick, style divorced from content.
Home **
Berkshire’s Theatre Oikos have their hearts in the right place, but that can’t conceal the fact that on the whole they aren’t particularly good actors or storytellers.
