Cat's Cradle
Courtyard Theatre, Hoxton
Cat's Cradle, written by Slaughterhouse-Five author Kurt Vonnegut, presents a tricky challenge for a stage play, but Miracle Theatre accomplish it in a series of short sporadic scenes of mild humor interlocked with video projections. The action follows English journalist John MacGuiness, whose sardonically witty nature, played by Ben Dyson, is the highlight of the show, as he attempts to gather research to write a book about what Americans were doing on the day the nuclear bomb fell on Hiroshima.
MacGuiness is sent on a trip to the Caribbean island of San Lorenzo to interview multi-millionaire Julian Castle, performed by Dominic Power. MacGuiness soon finds himself embroiled in the lives of the family of Felix Hoenikker, a fictional physicist involved in both the atomic bomb project and a substance called 'Ice-nine' which can alter the structure of water giving it a solid form at room temperature. A number of the acting performances competently drive the action forward - in his multiple roles Power shows his versatility and is particularly enjoyable as Mr. Minton, the newly appointed U.S. Ambassador to the island. Also noteworthy is Jason Squibb who does a decent job as Frank Hoenikker, Felix's hapless son who becomes the Major General of San Lorenzo. Sadly, some of the production's more poignant scenes fall short of their true potential and a fluctuation between intentionally comic accents and those played straight, proves troublesome.
The show's many projected interludes, some of which contained Calypso style music, offer the audience a multimedia experience which is most effective when representing a flashback, or as one of the several amusing encyclopedic style videos explaining the mysterious faith of Bokonon, a religion which has gripped the people of San Lorenzo. Unfortunately the projections at times seem a little awkward when combined as part of the live action; Miracle Theatre, however, must certainly be given credit for trying something different.
The show might have benefited from a bit more invention in the lighting, although this may have been deliberately kept simple to avoid causing disruption to the projections. Whilst I was not a particular fan of the puppet representation of the aging and crippled Papa Monzano, president of San Lorenzo, it did seem to offer delight to some members of the audience. Perhaps not laugh a minute but enjoyable enough, and the provokingly obscure faith of Bokonon gives us all something to think about.
Ollie Fielding
No comments:
Post a Comment