At The Black Box,
Arts Centre until October 5, 2000
Reviewer: Kate
Herbert
Born in a Taxi is a
group of four performers who specialise in creating physical theatre and
movement improvisation. The Enormous Club, directed by John Bolton, is a
development of a shorter piece of theirs from 1997.
All four members of the ensemble (Penny Baron, Nick Papas,
David Wells, Carolyn Hanna) are charming and engaging. Each plays a distinctive
character in The Enormous Club.
Baron is a startled and awkward little urchin with bright
eyes and impeccable comic timing and detail. Papas is a huggy-bear kind of hobo
in a flap-eared hat and knee pads. Hanna is a romantic and anxious figure in an
ivory gown.
These three function as a unit. They meet, play, experiment
and love each other, rolling, hugging and romping like children.
Then, arriving through a portable doorway, is a stranger in
dress shirt and boxer shorts. David Wells character is an intruder who upsets
the harmony of the trio, both diverting and distressing them.
He is an entertainer, singing Eastern European songs
accompanied by accordion. He makes them dance, seduces the women, teases,
taunts and frightens them in turn.
The movement style is abstract, often funny and
demonstrating the unity of spirit of this ensemble.
The first forty minutes are the most successful. The later
vignettes are interesting but they are disparate and therefore less connected
or compelling.
David Murphy's set is simple, portable and effective. His
three wheel-on doorways allow secrets to be revealed. Mountfort's original
musical compositions are diverse and clever. Nick Pajanti's lighting is muted
and dusky but hand held candles and various lamps illuminate the action
further.
The Enormous Club heightens human emotion and embodies the
unconscious in these quirky child-like characters.
By Kate Herbert
No comments:
Post a Comment