A
performance about a chance encounter in a lift, said to change
destiny forever by Zoe Alyssa Cooper.
I have to admit that my motivation for going to this production
was due to a chance encounter with one of my ex’s on a very hot
day, two weeks ago when as we were chit chatting to catch up,
we both decided to swim in the river, as we carried on our
conversation (just outside Henley) and arrived back at our
separate homes, locally, a few hours later. That evening was
then followed by two calls later in the week by his girlfriend
and his sister asking me what the hell I was doing wrecking
their lives.
The last couple of weeks have been about sifting through the
motivating factors in all of our actions; I was looking for
some wisdom and light on the subject.
The play is carried out in what is called an ‘optomistic’
corporate building, said to be contemporary in all aspects of
design. The automatic lift service builds a vision of their
reality, which allows our imaginations to build the set, the
audience is seated in a room the size of a studio flat.
The man and women, appear to be strangers at first but after
the lift becomes stuck they reveal they are actually ex-husband
and wife. Painfully and awkwardly they begin to try and
communicate how their marriage broke down.
The realisations for their marital breakdown seemed slow and a
little late to bring up; He accused her of taking the role of
wife instead of the fun loving girl he married, I couldn’t help
wondering why this hadn’t been said in the three years of their
marriage.
So, I ended up spending the evening in an intimate room that
resembled a studio flat being caught up, once again in the
firing line, as these two battled out their misunderstandings
about each other, obviously still struggling to understand each
others perspective.
My mind couldn’t help wondering to my own swimming trip, the
vision was far more entertaining. I was reminded that I
actually had a pleasant and communicative time with my ex. The
dialogue they used ‘its not working’ I couldn’t help feeling
should be, ‘we are not working at communicating’ and I was
reminded of my ex’s girlfriend and the struggles of their
relationship in which communication was a big issue.
For me seeing a performance, is about seeing a different
perspective, exploring life in a different framework or
thought. My inspiration from this performance, to take home to
my personal life was, ‘ we need to be able to communicate’ to
have a life together and one has to be careful not to get in
the firing line if you are involved with a couple that is
dysfunctional in communication but ‘going swimming with an ex
can be pleasant, as long as you trust yourself and each
other’!
As you can see there were discrepancies about how the
performance hung together with life experience. As an artistic
performance I found it underdeveloped and slightly immature,
maybe more suited to a younger audience. The framework of the
story had the dynamics of a play that could explore the
interesting phenomena of ‘chance’ life encounters but I am
afraid taking the negative stance through the performance
seemed a little defeatist. However, I realised that I am happy
to let the hand fate plays in my life take control at the next
turn!
The Red Lion Hotel, Screening Room, Hart St, Henley on
Thames
Monday 20-Saturday 25 July 9pm-9.50pm
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