PERFORMANCE REVIEW: My Baby Just Cares For Me

My Baby Just Cares For Me – Full Beam Visual Theatre
Jackson's Lane, Highgate

Tonight, Jackson’s Lane presents a sensitive and thought provoking tale about the deterioration of an aging father. The play focuses on his changing relationship with the daughter who commits to cares for him and overcoming the problems that the pair ensue. Full Beam Visual Theatre here succinctly comment on the current decay in the care system questioning the levels of support that are on offer for both the elderly and, more importantly, their carers.

The decline of the father is cleverly, yet subtly, portrayed through the distinctive alterations in the puppet and astutely observed mannerisms commanded by puppeteer Adam Fuller. The intervention of projected images of the past and atmospheric sound track serve as reminders to a past that holds many cherished memories.

The lack of communication between the two characters is a poignant indication of how the issue of aging is rarely spoken or even considered. Through text messages the daughter is frequently reminded of her other responsibilities as she is committed to balancing her life and caring for her father. Unfortunately, this element is never fully explored and often feels confusing and distracting.

The anxiety and frustration of the daughter is evident as the story progresses but she remains predominantly silent throughout, which at times seems unnecessary and awkward.

With little exchange between the characters, the performance does, at times, begin to drag and could certain parts could have been cut and trimmed without damaging the whole. An insightful and unconventional approach to a subject that is rarely discussed, however it would have benefited from more dialogue and less dramatisation.

Rob Crosse

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Misterioso

Misterioso: A Journey Into The Silence of Thelonious Monk - Theatralia
Riverside Studios, Hammersmith

Vibrantly silent and delicately loud, Misterioso is a sensitive and intriguing exploration of the curious life of Thelonious Monk. A five piece jazz band form the focal point of the show, punctuated by narrative interludes from Monk's close friend, Baroness Pannonica played by Tamsin Shasha. Written by David Walter Hall, Pannonica's speeches are both deftly crafted and emotively delivered.

The musical core of the piece, with its impressive bass slapping and choreography, is captivatingly frenetic, yet also intuitively crisp. This is complemented by the often frenzied digital projection and text - designed by SDNA - that encompasses the entire back wall of the stage. A sense of ordered chaos is created, and of being on the edge of understanding.

The action that takes place within this sound world is varied and stimulating. It is at times hedonistic, as Shasha distributes wine to the cabaret style tables at the front of the stage. It is at times wild, as members of the audience are encouraged to dance and absorb the jazz club atmosphere. Yet it is also at times contemplative, as both Shasha and Christina Oshunniyi (who plays both Monk's wife, Nellie, and Billie Holiday) take a back seat and allow the music to reign supreme.

Misterioso moves between the extravagant and impetuous, and the subdued and almost bewildering. Although there could perhaps be a little more of Monk's life told through story, Shasha's subtly incorporated aerial work at the end of the piece reflects the way that music, and indeed silence, has the power to transcend words.

Helena S. Rampley

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Fish Clay Perspex

Fish Clay Perspex – FaultyOptic
Jackson’s Lane – 30th October 2009

The streets of Highgate may fast becoming populated with masked faces and Dracula-a-like party goers, but there’s something much scarier and more exciting going on inside the North London gem that is Jackson’s Lane. And here FaultyOptic offer up something that will leave a stronger impression than a pair of plastic pointy teeth.

Presenting the first of the Suspense triptych, FaultyOptic’s Fish Clay Perspex follows three brief bittersweet stories of trials, tribulations and an examination of three bizarre and rather confused characters. The performance begins with a solitary old man picking up stones on a beach who soon finds himself with an over-sized fish stuck to his head. Next up, a seemingly psychotic potter who penchant for avant-garde sculpting that finds him slicing up an Elizabeth II resembling bust. Finally we see two ‘Pointy Pants’ men, stuck behind a Perspex sheet continually trapped by the ever-moving marker pens and masking tape. Hence the title, Fish Clay Perspex. Tying all three tales together is a simple piece of cotton wool that, taking on a variety of personas, draws each character from their world and re-presents them as a collected trio in what appears to be the afterlife.

The skill of FaultyOptic lies in the fact that while you can clearly see the puppeteers controlling their subject, they soon become almost invisible as life is seamlessly recreated before our eyes. Watching strong work like this Edward Gordon Craig’s theories about the value of the marionette over the actor become much more plausible. Because while it is good to watch an autonomous actor trippingly recite the lines of Shakespeare, the puppet show is much more effective and energising as we, the audience, are the ones complicit in making the action come to life.

We suspend our disbelief, we allow our imagination to take over and we believe that the inanimate object presented to us has a life and a will of its very own. And that is why this group is so haunting, so compelling and need to be seen.


Ruby Green

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Great Pretenders

Great Pretenders: The Musical
Upstairs at the Gatehouse, Highgate

You could quite easily sit through Great Pretenders, a small-scale musical about wannabe tribute acts, and be a prude. Or, with even greater ease, you could sit back and enjoy it.

Skepticism is not dispelled by the slightly shaky and underwhelming opening, bizarrely entitled 'When the day is over'. Neither is it dispelled by the introduction of the almost irritatingly idealistic Joyce (Jennifer Saayeng) and the predictably vulgar Irishman, Liam - Luke Jastal. But this is not a show about profundity and obfuscation. It is an energy-fuelled and well-rounded piece about petty rivalry and uprooting secrets that succeeds in the balance and clarity of its story.

Although there is often a feeling of the inevitable - with plot, music and gags - there are definite moments of surprise. The macho PJ, played by Leon Kay, reveals himself to be a Liza Minnellli impersonator, and to have a deeper crisis about the acceptance and tolerance of this than we might at first imagine. So too, the tense reunion between Rebecca Bainbridge’s Paula and Andy (David Higgins) - the most convincingly played storyline in the show - is compelling, despite its sentimentality.

The fantastically detailed set, designed by Gemma Harris, enhanced the plausibility of the dressing room scenario. Graffiti on the inside of the toilet door, postcards round the mirrors and cluttered coffee cups give the sense of a backstage area that has been used and abused.

Great Pretenders is superficial, but this is overridden by the fact that it is undeniably entertaining. Escapist, yes, but pretentious it is not.

Helena S. Rampley

Great Pretenders: The Musical runs until 15th November

FEATURE: Suspense Festival at Jacksons Lane

Puppets can divide opinion. For some, the skilled manipulation of the inanimate objects is a gift to be marvelled at, as they are brought to life and made to sit on swings, go for walks and even order coffee like miniature munchkins. For others, the realism is too much, tapping into Freud’s idea of the uncanny and bringing on nightmares more frightening than Jan Svankmajer’s Otesánek. If you find yourself siding with the latter, make sure you stay away from Highgate’s Jacksons Lane this November where puppets are most definitely the order of the day as Suspense takes over.

The Suspense festival is the first puppetry festival to take place in London in over 25 years and has a clear mission to show that not all puppets are child-friendly Sesame Street characters. Over the course of ten days, and at seven venues across London, the festival will present adult audiences with work from a variety of UK and International practitioners revealing the artform to be sophisticated, grotesque, irrational and, above all, incredibly potent.

Innovative dance venue Jacksons Lane will be showcasing three events from the festival’s programme providing haunting tales of chance, sickness and decaying old age from prominent British companies.

Starting with FaultyOptic’s Fish Clay Perspex, audience’s will be given the chance to see the London International Mime Festival veterans not only manipulate the puppets but also miniature armless figures, clay, pens and pieces of plastic as they present a collection of short ‘character studies’ musing on ideas of chance, doubt and turmoil providing audience’s with a compelling, spellbinding and, at times, revolting experience and a chance to suspend their disbelief and enter an alternate reality.

Second on the bill are South-western trio Full Beam Visual Theatre. Watching Strictly Come Dancing contestant Jo Wood (playing the defenceless, deserted woman with the theatricality of a pantomime dame) makes us all aware that the baby boomers - and Stones’ affiliated personalities - are coming to the point in their lives when they need to wave goodbye to their drugs-induced hedonistic days and instead settle down for a cup of cocoa and the Antiques Roadshow. My Baby Just Cares For Me explores the difficulty of looking after an older generation that doesn’t want to grow up and questions how to make life plans match up with pension plans.

Finally, Heartbreak Soup follows the story of a young boy caught in a limbo-like existence as he awaits transplant surgery. Spending his time under his hospital bed, Cuddy dreams of a time when he’ll be able to run and jump, shutting himself off from the drab confined surroundings he forced to inhabit. While it may sound serious and gut-wrenching, The Empty Space promise a heart-warming, uplifting experience for its audience.

Once again, Jacksons Lane show they are at the forefront of experimental performance in the capital’s current theatrical climate. While, there’s ongoing feuds between theatre companies, producers and the Arts Council, we are here shown that fear of the recession should not hamper creativeness.

Lily Eckhoff

Fish Clay Perspex runs from 30th – 31st October
My Baby Just Cares For Me runs from 5th – 6th November
Heartbreak Soup runs from 7th – 8th November

To book tickets contact Jacksons Lane HERE and for full programme details check out Suspense London Puppetry Festival site HERE

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Secrets Birthday Party

Secrets Vaudevillian Birthday Party
Southwark Playhouse, 3rd October

Beneath the arches of London Bridge lies Southwark Playhouse Secrets, the cabaret-style side show from the innovative theatre. The dimly lit walls of grey brick, red decor and bare white bulbs give the hidden location a feel of shabby glamour. Combined with a late bar and a sense of happy-go-lucky, this is the perfect scenario for a variety of mystery acts comprised to celebrate the new season of the post-show and lunchtime entertainments.

Knowing that the whole venture was conceived with a more-or-less £0 budget - requiring the performers to give themselves for free - it was hard to know what to expect of this evening. And as it happened, it was a real mixed bag.

Nudity was the order of the night at Southwark, some of it prepared for, and some more of a surprise. A burlesque dancer flaunted through and amongst the audience, with huge purple feathers and little else. Although scantly clad, the voluptuous Khandie Khisses managed to remain poised and never seedy. Wes Zaharuk, however, became unexpectedly and unnecessarily undressed during his performance. One of his several questionable routines involves, incomprehensibly, attaching two plungers to his nipples and invading the faces of audience members. Like the rest of his act, this is a complete non sequitur, and leaves you wondering what exactly it is that he is claiming to be skilled at.

Further bizarreness ensued. The ring master of a flea circus looked very professional in his red outfit, but succeeded to entertain the audience with the spectacular amount of tricks that went wrong. Keeping a brave face at all times, he was at least endearing if not very practised. An androgynous musical saw player was also slightly bewildering; untuned notes accompanying the score of Atonement was entertaining in a curious kind of way.

The potential of a fantastic scenario was slightly dampened by a couple of underwhelming acts. The draw of the event was evident from the initial crowd that filled the stage and bar area. If a core of the successful and intriguing acts could be established, then the audience would no doubt dwindle much less than it did on this occasion.

Helena S. Rampley

For the full line-up of Secrets new season just click HERE

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Bedtime Solos

Bedtime Solos - Across the Pond Theatre Company
Old Red Lion Theatre, Angel

Is physical proximity enough? Or is it necessary for two people to know the innermost workings of each other's minds in order to have a fulfilling relationship? Bedtime Solos exposes the different worlds inhabited by two people who supposedly share a high level of intimacy, while two stiff single beds show the distance within their union.

Self-obsession and reticence reign as each of the partners tells themselves bedtime stories of their pasts. Jakob Holder – the play’s author - masterfully integrates and eeks out references to the banal but pervasive events that cloud their childhood memories. Even during sex, and 'the greatest feeling in the universe', the couple are still far away from one another; he caught up in the re-imagination of wetting himself, and she in the traumatic fantasy of brash but apparently loving sex behind a dumpster.

As each partner becomes more involved with their own elaborate emotional world, together they become more tangled up in mental tantrums and conundrums. They begin to expect the other to understand the vaguest of hints to something too deep within their psyche to be guessed at.

Holder is something special. The agility, honesty and originality of the thought processes the characters go through makes you wish this was something you had written. It is natural and unforced, yet fresh and unpredictable. The private notions that enter the head of a man trying to stave off orgasm - of a cat, of cats, of dead cats, of the smell of vomit, of poking smelly dead cats with a stick - makes this play absurd yet very real.

Intricate shadow play, unfalteringly absorbing performances from Heather Wilds and Scott Christie, and a uniquely poetic script make Bedtime Solos flow past in a sense of post-coital timelessness.

Helena S. Rampley
Photo: Christian Alegria

Bedtime Solos runs at the Old Red Lion until 26th September