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Author: Eric Page

REVIEW: Return to the Forbidden Planet @Devonshire Park Theatre

Posted on by Eric Page

Return to the Forbidden Planet

Devonshire Park Theatre, Eastbourne

What do you get when you cross a jewel of a regency theatre, with a Shakespearean tale of magic and star crossed lovers, full throttle rock and roll and even throw in a roller-skating trombone AND therein playing robot?

Bob Carlton’s sci-fi musical, inspired by The Tempest – Return to the Forbidden Planet, that seriously weird jukebox musical. The first of its type and never surpassed this collection of scenes and characters and just about most of the plot from The Tempest is spliced and morphed together with some of the most memorable music from the golden age of rock and roll. Done with style, even if not with much sophistication, with a cast who fully commit and have the musical ability to back up the absurdity on stage.  This is fun with a capital F.

The cast are all superb, they boldly go, all the singers filling the sometime unforgiving acoustic space of the Devonshire Park with belters, and with a huge range of musical abilities. They are certainly full of energy and the amount of training to get the highly choreographed movements right, or deliberately wrong (wink wink), is testament to the amount of work that has gone in to this slick and engaging production.

With sets from Julie Godfrey which nod to more than a half dozen different Sci-Fi shows and some fun projections which added great value to the show, including a rather clever take-off scene from the grounds of the theatre itself and a fun first appearance from the monstrous destructive cephlapod ID of Dr Prospero. Director Chris Jordan has pulled it all together with just the right amount of tongue in cheek-bugger-the-fourth-wall silliness and seamless musical segues from musical director Dan de Cruzto ensure it all works.  On paper is always sounds like a real rag bag of a show but on stage, in the hands of such charming performers, this thing flies!

It’s a seriously odd show, shuttling Shakespeare up against rock and roll, review theatre, musical comedy and some slick and silly audience participation. It’s a real curates egg, but not withstanding it’s weirdness, it’s fun and in this case, with their full octane performances the cast give every ounce of their energy to ensure the show rockets into the high end of fun from the off.

There was a lovely moment where Cookie the Base was doing some seriously wild riffing on his guitar, howling and screaming the chords with real passion, filmed in close up and with as much passion as could be muster, a shoulder axe throw pulled the lead out of his guitar and all was silence, he continued to act like hell, the band ploughed on, he grappled with the lead, reinserted it and went on to bring the house down. It looked rehearsed but was one of those serendipitous moments of pure show business which only thrilled the audience more. Great stage tension is always rewarded.

The packed house was well up for this kind of musical high campery and loved every moment of it, laughed at every pun, even the bad ones, even the rotten ones, and clapped for more. The standing ovation at the end was well deserved as this young cast worked themselves into a sweat to entertain us.

All that, some very cheap drinks at the bar ( you get change!!) and then the most romantic drive back across the downs and along beachy head with a huge sliver of creamy crescent moon hanging over Seven Sisters, blissful.

Well worth the jaunt!

Until September 1st.

For more info or to book tickets see the Devonshire Park Theatre website here:

 

REVIEW: Sounds and Sorcery’s Celebrating Fantasia @The Vaults, Waterloo

Posted on by Eric Page

Sounds and Sorcery Celebrating Disney’s Fantasia

The Vaults at Waterloo Station

The Vaults, a maze of old tunnels under Waterloo station. You start off by wandering down the dystopian splendor of Leake Street’s graffiti tunnel, then into a darkened doorway where the carefully crafted experience unfolds.

While not of ‘Shunt’ levels of immersive spaces the vaults were decorated in a good range of colourful spectacles, light projections and musical soundscapes, all linked together, sometimes loosely, by Fantasia. With a couple of live shows which form the main body of the performances.  Although the Disney logo is part of the show, there’s not very much Disneyfication apparent throughout the event, ‘inspired by’ is perhaps a more honest title.

so…Inspired by Disney’s 1940 animated masterpiece ‘Fantasia’,  this immersive performance of Sounds and Sorcery is celebrating the cartoon rather than anything else Disney, so make sure you’ve at least seen it before going, it will really help your enjoyment, expectations and the film is a seriously odd piece of work in itself.

There are lights and projections, smoke machines and waterfalls, flashing lights, thumping music, wobbly floors, projections and plenty of quirky spaces to explore and indulge in.  Some of the rooms are worth exploring, with hidden parts, so try all the doors, and play with all the leavers.

My favourite rooms were the mermaid’s grotto, hidden up the stairs above the bubble waterfall room, simple, effective and hypnotic and the first room, a surreal meshing combination of Logan’s Run, Solent Green and Fantasia, with fractal images of instruments playing  Toccata and Fugue in D Minor by Johann Sebastian Bach,  superbly odd brainwashing and a very comfy way to start the evening off. It’s wandering-around-at-your-own-pace immersive, and sitting down occasionally to watch a staged performance piece, so nothing too taxing or alarming.

One of the shows is of silly and competitive dancers trying to out-do each other for the limelight in the Alice in Wonderland themed ballroom, another a recreation of the Sorcerers’ Apprentice with plenty of splashing and moody damp lighting in a dank Gothic space.

It’s certainly selfie heaven and we arrived a little late and very sober, two things not to be emulated. A few drinks would aid in enjoying the experience, that said there’s a bar with a superb range of ale and beers deep inside the vaults, with fluorescent gins and all sorts of grown up fun and it’s nice to sup a beer and wind huge illuminated clouds up and down over the audience.

Once you’re through the last themed room, a rather understated and lacking in mania ‘night on a bald mountain’ ,( with no scary monks parading thank heavens!) there’s another bar at the exit, which is filled with interactive art and comfortable seating.

There were some younger children at the event and I’m not sure if some of the darker themed spaces would suit, but that’s always a parental call, none of them seemed that bothered by the crepuscular gloom.  If you’re a grown up kid at heart, then this is certainly worth going along to and playing around in.

There were a few issues with our headphones on the night but the staff, all who are all very pleasant, patient and helpful, and plentiful, soon sorted us out and we were on our way.  They are also very keen to ensure we had as best an experience as possible, telling us when the next shows would be ready. A lovely crowd of friendly folk.

Like all these immersive events it a bit hit and miss. Like Fantasia itself, depends on your taste and expectation, but when the thought had been invested and the enchantment comes to life then there are moments which are magical and entertaining.  With a range of spaces to explore, some theatrical acts to watch, plenty of wandering to do and a few cool and well planned surprises, it’s all in all a pleasant enough event, engaging and fun, safe and entertaining.

Production runs until September 30 at The Vaults, Waterloo Station, London

For more info or to book tickets, click here:

BOOK REVIEW: Fruit: Recipes that celebrate nature by Bernadette Wörndl

Posted on by Eric Page

Fruit: Recipes that Celebrate Nature

By Bernadette Wörndl

This is a beautifully designed and sumptuously photographed cookbook with 240 full colour pages which shows how seasonal fruit harmonizes and enhances many vegetable and meat dishes.

We associate fruit in recipes with preserves, cakes, and desserts. Fruit can be an incredible complement to savoury dishes. We love classic pairings, such as lemon and chicken, apple and pork, and cranberries and turkey, but there are loads of combinations we’re missing out on.

Wörndl -a brilliant cook and food stylist shows you how to best incorporate fruit into everyday cooking.

Arranged alphabetically by the main fruit used in the dish—twenty different fruits, as well as dried fruits—the 120 delicious recipes themselves are contemporary versions of Mediterranean classics.

This book is a splendid addition to any cook’s collection.

Hardback

Size: H:28.7cm, W: 20.7cm

Out now £25

REVIEW: Me And My Girl @Chichester Festival Theatre

Posted on by Eric Page

Me & My Girl

Chichester Festival Theatre

The show is a superb revival, no attempt to ram anything serious into its eel pie and diamond tiara flimflam; it joyfully declares its shallowness and takes it one step further into utterly enchanting daftness. I always wonder at a revival of a show of this age if anyone will try and make it relevant, no such attempts here, the story is pared back a touch, a light re-balancing, the crisp script perfectly silly and joke after joke lands with a divine perfection which brought belly laughs out of this cynical critic.

The plot is pretty pedestrian, there is very little tension or drama, and its irritating elements are played down. This is a love story at heart and the focus is kept rightly there.  The songs are amusing but there’s no stand out, just nostalgic fun but they’re sung with perfection and the ensemble pieces are a delight.

It’s always a thrill when an understudy steps up, particularly when they are filling in for a performer of Matt Lucas’s standing, the audience were visibly disappointed when told by the lilting welsh voice of Director Daniel Evans but they didn’t stay that way for long.  To see Ryan Pidgen – who usually plays the chef – land the role so utterly perfectly was a masterclass in jumping on, seizing the moment and riding it to the winners post.  He was superb, his timing spot on, his dancing looking like he’d been rehearsing it for months, the off sides, the looks and pure romantic charm all worked fabulously. Alex Young as Sally was just as sweet and simple and ensured the romantic element was convincing.  Caroline Quentin very nearly steals the show with her impressive voice and is the very model of a maiden aunty, full of withering asides and steely warmth but it was together they shone and the audience loved them.

The uncomplicated narrative is rags to riches, about someone rising to the occasion, from barro’ boy to belted earl, we had the pleasure of watching a meta-story tonight, and it was a delight as it unfolded with such a slick and engaging polish.

The supporting cast is brilliant with singers and dancers fusing to make this show feel very much bigger than it actually is. Jacqui Dubois voice is stand out, as is Jennie Dale’s wonderfully indulgent Parchester’s dancing. Siubhan Harrison was a sublime comic treat and Clive Rowe puffed and pouted with a seriously silly Wodehousian perfection.

Gareth Valentine conducted the band with verve, although they were very loud but with a half dozen tap dancing land-girls in wellington tap boots at one point it helped, he’s nudged the music, creating  a superbly manic samba version of the ‘Sun has got his Hat on’. The music on occasion did give the lyrics a fuzzy edge, but the dancing just kept giving and giving.  Rachel Dickson’s costumes deserves a mention, melding Brideshead summer society and flapper glamour with 1930’s working class detail delightfully evocative. The chorography from Alistair David is impressive with flourishes and references aplenty, particularly dazzling are the interlinked lifts and dancing of Harrisons Lady Jaqueline’s ‘Thinking of no one but me’.

The set worked almost as hard as the cast, shifting and rolling, rising and falling, complex but effortless, a distorted perspective giving the main façade of Hareford Hall a huge presence and some delightfully silly touches. Les Brotherstons design gives the cast a thoroughly good place to sparkle in.

I was charmed by this show; the audience gave it a roaring standing ovation, deserved by the hard working full tap dancing cast who hardly stopped for a moment in their all singing, all dancing slightly demented action scenes. Quentin and Pidgen especially deserved it for giving top notch performances that gleamed with warmth and talent.

Well done Mr Pidgen for surpassing our expectations and well done Chichester Festival Theatre for this heart-warming production of this old classic. My companion, a first timer at the Festival Theatre was impressed by the comfort and space of the theatre itself as much as by this engaging essentially lighthearted British production.

We left whistling the tunes in the warm summer air and doing the Lambeth walk, Oi!

Play until August 25

For more info or to book tickets see the Chichester Festival Theatre website.

 

 

Fringe REVIEW: Circus’Sission @BOSCO

Posted on by Eric Page

Head First Acrobats presents: Circus’Sission – Those That Made The Cut!

Bosco Tent – Spiegeltent

A VARIETY mashup of circus stars and acts from Brighton Fringe, presented by your favourite Aussies, the boys from Head First Acrobats.

The endlessly lovely boys keep us occupied with their energetic hosting and performances which mesh well with offerings from a surreal and manic comedian and two different types of hoop work. Five short shows in one and the added pleasure and tasty eye candy of the Aussie trio with plenty of audience participation and  culminating with Rowan Thomas spinning naked on his giant steel ring.

Superb cross-section of performers, the tent is fun, the atmosphere electric and we left having been entertained, a little bit of this, some of that and plenty of the other. Host Cal Harris who certainly knows how to keep a Brighton audience hyped up and the participants all have their own engaging traits. It all felt a little unsafe, unhinged and bonkers and that’s just what a decent montage show should feel like.

Recommended as an excellent, cross-section of the best fringe physical and comical acts and its worth a punt as you can’t go wrong with that wide a spread.

June 1

For full details of the show. click here:

You can join the handsome trio in Worthing this summer at the Worthing Summer of Circus workshops. .

REVIEW: The Chalk Garden @Chichester Festival Theatre

Posted on by Eric Page

The Chalk Garden

Enid Bagnold at Chichester Festival Theatre

THIS play is an exploration of privilege, delusion, secrets, lies and as always with this kind of clockwork play where the narrative clicks past with the reassurance of a mantel clock, butler, tick, errant daughter, tock, mysterious stranger tick, judge for lunch, tock, gardens as metaphor tick, Freudian gibberish, tock, class and privilege, you get the idea. Written by high society eccentric and Rottingdean resident Enid Bagnold the play reflects her attitudes and much as her attitude towards drama. The play and calibre of actor are marred by an unpleasant and borderline racialist line which should be excised, it was interesting where the audience chose not to laugh last night.

The set of a faded English house of some comfort is a delight, the lighting subtle and the quiet soundscapes of weather and bird song give us unchanging England outside whilst all is changing within.

Keith does throwaway humour in a devastating way and bring great warm laughter to a lot of places, the rest of the cast are given as much opportunity to make us laugh and they all excel. The snappy conversations, timed to perfection work well on us, and when the tension rises and outbursts start to strain the carefully taut membrane of polite social intercourse things become very interesting. It’s an exercise in British reserve, done with the right amount of simmer, the pot lids clatter, the stream rises, it’s all about to blow, but never, quite, does.

Written by Sussex-based playwright Enid Bagnold, and using the struggles with a chalk soil garden as the metaphors for struggle, growth and change threaded throughout the piece it’s easy to see why the local audience loved it, and it’s always a delight to watch Keith go full steam ahead into the particular kind of brittle withering matriarch that she does so touch perfectly. A peep over her glasses, an aside which fells oaks, a devastating pause – all get the laughter required. This play is no light drawing room comedy though, it’s heavy with meaning or the kind of thing that was meaning in the 50’s, of emotional training and forced family habits, of old habits dieing hard. The intrusion of a new person; here in the guise of Amanda Root’s Miss Madrigal is the catalyst for change.

Roots performance as the buttoned up Miss Madrigal is superb, nuanced and anguished, fiery and almost Pentecostal in her rage, she owned the stage, never resting on her laurels, which would never thrive in such thin chalky soil as Chichester could offer she digs for glory. The interactions between Root and Keith are the fulcrum this play turn on and all else falls into shade, the heaving undertow of loneliness and fear, of circumstance and hopes, of loss and losing are circled and rushed at but never ultimately directly addressed and it’s this very English type of avoidance that these very English actresses get to excavating to the chalky lime core. Chalk is a sedimentary rock laid down layer on layer with endless fossils embedded within and flinty nodules of impenetrable hardness, The Chalk garden is a play of layers with a flinty impenetrable heart, one that has to be gone round, not through and although ultimately unresolved and unsatisfying as a piece of dramatic theatre, it’s worth the effort just to see this superb cast with these two rather spectacular leading ladies giving us a glimpse of what can be done with poor soil when one puts in a hell of a lot of effort.

My companion, a great fan of Keith and with a chalky soil of her own came away most interested in Miss Madrigals list of plants that would thrive in a Chalk Garden.

Plays until June 16

Chichester Festival Theatre

For full details of the production or to book tickets see here:

 

Festival REVIEW: Brownton Abbey @The Dome

Posted on by Eric Page

 

Brownton Abbey

At Brighton Dome

Friday, May 25 2018

BROWNTON Abbey was the Brighton Festival’s first collaboration with stalwarts of the Trans, Queer and poc scene the crew from The Marlborough.

Seeing the Dome dressed up with UV lights, carnival streamers, balloons with the most superb little fringes just floating around like jellyfish with attitude and projections and visuals felt like stepping into a QTIPOC community festival, but in the glazed rococo madness of the Dome’s superb spaces. We’d expected something a little more sit-down-and-watch performance based so had arrived early and were lucky, the dance floor was gathering groups of bopping chatting folks, the Dj’s were already going, the place was inviting and people were flowing in and there was a strong black and queer aesthetic going down.

Darling of the demi-monde and stylistically experimental choreographer Malik Nashad Sharpe kicked off with a joyful set of dances & movements where they seemed to be having as much fun as they were being serious and circled the dance floor purifying it and us with a thick smoking and fragrant smudge stick.  Rachel Young’s performance was a deep exploration of  afro-futurist visual movement with a strong wink in the direction of Grace Jones and  then – f’k me!  Lasana Shabazz’s utterly fierce dance which felt like a blast furnace sanctification from a Candomblé possessed priest. Decked out in floor length Aztec feathered cape with jewelled mask and leather harness, boots and shimmering trimming of blue black-feathers, he was demented. We – feeling blessed & initiated – were blown away by it. Costume, frenzy, ritual, we felt in the presence of something profound, then the music kicked off and back we were, we wanted more but Shabazz was done with us.  He took my heart with him, still beating between his teeth.

Headlining in more than one way was New Orleans ‘Queen of Bounce’ Big Freedia and Tony, the dancer who was electric, never being still for a moment and bouncing their way up and down the stage to the audiences delight, a fair few of whom ended up on stage, invited by Big Freedia who explained was without the usual entourage, having come over the Brighton to treat us all. Big Freedia touched on working with RuPaul and Beyoncé.

The audience responded, poured onto the stage to do a kind of conga bounce, a lot, lot cooler and funnier than it sounds.  There were plenty of very interesting people mixing around, some unlikely, some of the usual crowd and a lot of younger, happy folk up for something interesting, engaging and celebrating the otherness all of this mixed effortlessly in with live DJ sets. Certainly the kind of crowd any Festival worth it’s salt would want to attract.

We also got to share a queer ritual from Ria Hartley who took us though an intimate ceremony opening our chakras, bringing us to perfect moment of interconnected oneness and with a refreshingly fun but serious edge to it. Based on West African Yoruba rituals but reinterpreted for the evening this felt like a real extra delight to the hedonistic fun going on in the rest of the dome.  My older cis hetro friends who had (surprisingly) come along for the evening raved about Brownton and especially Ria all weekend!

Brownton Abbey felt like the seed of a whole festival, like being there on the magical night it all started and as we wandered out, glittered, marked with UV tribal face marking and a gilded shimmering golden face fringe we breathed the cool air of a Brighton night and thanked our lucky gods to be living in a city where a space like Brownton can be gouged out in the heart of a huge international festival. Well done all concerned.

For full details of the event, click here:

Fringe REVIEW: Guru Dudu’s Silent Disco Walking Tours

Posted on by Eric Page

 

Guru Dudu’s Silent Disco Walking Tours

Guru Dudu Productions at Brighton Fringe

Guru Dudu returns to the Fringe with his shivering sexy flannel purple hot pants, his cheeky but fierce boyish looks and his dapper and daft patter as he takes us, a huge crowd of excited to be there festival folks on a dancing-walking tour. He’s updated the technology but kept the magic of the pied piper, and we – gripped by the immersive headphone music leap – are enchanted.

We start in New Road with some safety instructions and a bonding experiences, we don our lightweight comfy but excellent headphones and are immersed in disco, disco, disc with Guru Dudu melodious and infections voice the only other noise, it’s strange, immersive but also compulsive, we are immediately joined into One.

He then takes us, as Abbas Voulez-vous (ah-ha) kicks off and we transform into a spontaneous flash mob (ah-ha) dancing through the streets, (ah-ha) whisking up to the Komedia (ah-ha) for some interpretative dancing to Bohemian Rhapsody then plunging back through the hectic heart of the festival weekend for lots of crazy interaction with onlookers and Wuthering Heights in the Pavilion Gardens.

Onlookers are bemused and sucked into our surreal world as we surround them for a moment of loud out of tune singing, improvised mayhem and dance, although we all think we sound wondrously in tune with clever harmonies. Gentle  instructions and easy dance moves are mixed in with funny commentary from Guru Dudu.

The dance mix of uplifting favourites from the 70s, 80s, 90s and 00s keeps us happy and arm waving as we head down into the city centre, doing a traffic stopping Stevie Wonder dance in Old Steine then whipping up through the South Lanes before plunging down the twisting alleys of the lanes to Rock Your Body from the Back Street Boys, Guru Dudu keeps up the energy and funny commentary all the way.

Silent disco tour is just that, silent and a disco, and a decent enough tour around central Brighton but it’s also a team building experience of excellence, a travelling mini festival, a flashmob a stunning example of both game theory and bystander theory in action, a seriously fun piece of immersive theatre using the city and inhabitants as its backdrop, a life affirming experience and great fun.

GuruDudu works his cute tush off making sure we are drilled and rehearsed, his military grade tech never lets the show down, and his can-do, utterly engaging attitude makes sure each and every person, no matter how shy or uncomfortable is soon blended into the smooth whole of his dream, his vision, to turn the streets of the city he is in into a living, breathing musical.

You become the most fun act in town, passers-by love you, traffic stops, but on we danced, part of a huge happy mob and every time I wander down Nile Street again I’ll be lifting them hands and rocking that body!

A liberating, superb experience and certainly a must do for anyone who’s not yet been on this trek into the camp heart of Brighton and surely the coolest way to see the city centre. I wanna do it in heels, for pride, you hear us Guru!

Until June 3

For more info and to book, click here:

REVIEW: And the Devil Will Drag You Under @Brighton Spiegeltent

Posted on by Eric Page

And the Devil Will Drag You Under

By Desmond O’Connor

Brighton Spiegeltent at Brighton Fringe on May 26

THIS is its 10th triumphant year, And the Devil May Drag You Under is still the darling of the Brighton Fringe.  The show’s premise is simple, the host Desmond O’Connor  whose like a foul-mouthed Nicolas Parsons but just as charming, brings together some of the finest and oddest cabaret talent on offer at Brighton Fringe. They give us a taster of their acts then the audience sends them to heaven or hell. It’s all done with the lightest of touches and the devil himself (Desmond O’Connor) and the recently deceased entertainers show you the very vest of what they’ve got.

As always with these shows it’s the combination that works the magic and we certainly had a great range of contrast on show, from Lynn Ruth Miller’s utterly beguiling octogenarian singing to burlesque from Coco Deville.

Leo a lithe bejewelled and be-feathered aerialist span on the silks right above our heads and Bunny, the wicked funny and dangerous stand up knife thrower took audience participation to a very sharp edge.  Opening with some superbly rhymed and timed singing, tortured French chanteuse La Poule won the audience over immediately before we settled down and let the acts do their stuff.

With Frisky & Mannish topping the bill with their delightful clash of pop culture, social commentary, musical and vocal dexterity and five-star charm this was a perfect cabaret evening, in the warm and atmospheric embrace of the Spiegeltent.

This is a piece of classic Brighton Fringe with a host who works hard, and has a flaming saxophone to delight us even more, to ensure an inclusive and attractive atmosphere, you got a lot of bang – bang for your money and long may it last.

For more details, click here:

Festival REVIEW: Gob Squad, Creation @Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts

Posted on by Eric Page

Gob Squad Creation (Pictures for Dorian)

At The Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts

A Brighton Festival event

Taking Wilde’s novel as their starting point, British-German performance group Gob Squad examine the nature of beauty, vanity and morality in their production Creation (Pictures For Dorian). Which was at the Attenborough Centre as part of the Brighton Festival.

God Squad have quite the reputation and this can often hinder a new work, expectations can run high or people can have very set ideas about what to expect. God Squad did their usual thing of using folk from the local area, “home-grown, organic locally sourced talent” as they put it and this added a very personal edge to a show, which although it’s focused on a universal condition was a deeply personal exploration of the ego’s of the three main performers.

It’s a languid piece, deliberately slow, like the process it’s critiquing, age moves with a glacial pace but is relentless, God Squad looked at their own ideas of how they would be when older and also their hopes and fears of how they might age, this is where the local talent came in.

Three very young actors were posed in a variety of heroic poses whilst questions were asked of them, cameras were trained on them, they were framed literally, floral garlands, wraps of silks draped around shoulders, and the camera captured moments of nothing unusual which were then titled and allowed to fade. Meditation is not a means to an end with Gob Squad. It is both the means and the end.

Three much older actors, perhaps with more of their stage time behind them than left were given a closer treatment, talking of loss of function and change of body, status and time. Beauty was looked at again, found again and time moves on.

God Squad are certainly likable, they can be funny and can also touch on the profound. There was much moving around on stage, a touch of chaos and from it came moments of stillness and contemplation there was very little exploration of morality in this piece, Wilde’s play is all about the effects of moral choices on the body, Gob Squad tightened their triangle of gazes on vanity and beauty alone, it left an odd gap, just sitting there, waiting. “Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror. But you are eternity and you are the mirror. Kahlil Gibran”

There was little from Wilde’s book, alas, an idea, some quotes but that was it, opening with a flourish with some very funny and dry interjections from the deliciously questioning deadpan of Johanna Freiburg whilst they worked on a Japanese ikebana flower arrangements this show’s meditative pace was set from the off.

Little happens, but the drip drip of thought and pose, of counter pose and comparison along with a soft and ironic deconstructive narrative from the artists of both themselves and their process gave the evening a charming thoughtful edge, there are times when it feels more like a lecture than a performance but on reflections, which is what this whole piece is about, the whole of it, in refection, the meditative soft analysis is of what and who defines beauty worked well with the urgent sotto voiced undertow of Dorian himself :

“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all. To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.”

For full details of this event, click here:

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