UK Theatre Network

Lone Twin Theatre play with types of narrative forms and structures, space and spacial relationships. The devising process they use for their work includes music, song and dance; some of the performers are more adept at than others, but all of them have an energy and commitment to this style of working that is palpable.

In THE FESTIVAL the action centres around a chance meeting of a man and a woman at an annual music festival that coincides with the yearly viewing of the humpback whale at this particular costal town in Australia.

The company use a Brechtian style of storytelling, which sets a tone of objectivity around the themes of relationships, friendships and family bonds. The effect, especially as the main female character of the piece appears to have a Danish accent, is a slightly off-the-wall Nordic feel, as if the characters are part of an IKEA ad. This, added to the space they work in, a simple traverse staging, and the use of the functional looking set - simple tables and chairs set at either end of the traverse, add to the sparseness of the storytelling and delivery.

Expressions of inner feelings and other emotions are shown through repetitive movements and dance steps which are both oddly moving and comical to watch. The group sing accapella to popular pop songs such as 'Everybody's Got a Hungry Heart' to express the universal longing of human beings towards seeking relationships. Both the characters feel an attraction when they meet and vow to meet again the same weekend the following year, but when they do, they both want different things; the male character wants the reunion to initiate a potential relationship and the female character doesn't and decides her life, her relationship with her mother, her colleagues and her friends is enough for her. What we don't feel however is any real investment in them as characters as they are not presented to in a way for us to care about them or get to know much about them. We are presented with 'information' and acted out scenes of their lives with their respective circles of contacts, but they are, like the set, purely functional.

The use of group singing is also both comical and poignant because of their commitment to it and to the message of the song more so than being 'note perfect', even though they can almost all hold a tune well. It is the intensity they feel for the songs they sing together that touches us and how they unselfconciously physicalise each nuance of the song. We laugh as we recognise ourselves dancing alone in our bedrooms to our favourite tunes or playing air-guitar to a favourite rock song.

Whether the subject of this episode of the Trilogy can really be defined a 'catastrophe' is questionable, but the approach and style of work which is compelling. The actors Antoine Fraval, Guy Dartnell, Molly Haslund, Nina Tecklenburg and Paul Gazzola are totally committed to the work and style of perfomance and it shows, and once we adapt to the style, we quickly accept the theatrical conventions they use for their storytelling. The lightness of touch and playfulness of the piece leave you feeling uplifted and intrigued.

2010

The Catastrophe Trilogy:
Alice Bell, Daniel Hit By A Train, The Festival

Three pieces shown either on consecutive
nights or back-to-back.
Please check websites for details.


1st - 13th March
Barbican, London
www.barbican.org.uk

16th, 17th, 18th March
Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield
www.thelbt.org

20th March
The Point, Eastleigh
www.thepointeastleigh.co.uk

22nd, 23rd, 24th April
The Studio, Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester
www.royalexchange.co.uk

26th April
Aberystwyth Arts Centre / Canolfan Y Celfyddydau
www.aber.ac.uk/artscentre

1st May
Studio 1, Dartington
www.dartington.org/arts

8th May
Nuffield Theatre, Lancaster
www.nuffieldtheatre.com

18th - 22nd May
Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Brussels
www.kfda.be

27th - 29th May
Festival Ad Werf, Utrecht
www.huisaandewerf.nl

The Festival

27th March
ICIA, University of Bath
www.bath.ac.uk/icia

28th April
Theatre 1, Roland Levinsky Building, University of Plymouth
www.peninsula-arts.co.uk

3rd May
Colcester Arts Centre
www.colchesterartscentre.com

6th May
The Civic, Barnsley
www.barnsleycivic.co.uk

11th May
Corn Exchange, Brighton
www.brightonfestival.org

The air of reverential expectation was almost palpable amongst the audience at the Barbican on Wednesday night for the opening of Peter Brook's latest offering 11 AND 12. In keeping with his tradition of simple staging, the vast canvas was spread out before us - colourful cloths and a few African objects effectively placing us within the setting for the story based on the novel by Malian writer Amandou Hampate Ba, adapted by Marie-Helene. Set in Mali during the French occupation it tells the true tale of the feud that developed over whether an Islamic prayer should be repeated 11 or 12 times and how the reprecussions of this tiny incident develop into bloodshed and controversy.

However, 90 minutes later, the audience are not even aware of it having ended and there is a prolonged delay before one brave soul breaks the silence and applauds and the rest of us as if woken from a trance, join in. There is a reason - the energy of the piece is sermon-like and deadening, the action is almost non-existent and the exploration of the central theme being largely narrated adds a further distancing. The performances are competent but somewhat stiff, the accents of the multicultural cast are heavy and there is no shape or change of pace to the storytelling.

It has a meditative feel, which in some respects is comforting and safe, like the folds of the cloths around the distinguished sages, but watching it as a piece of theatre ultimately makes you feel you are slowly being drugged into a state of catatonic amnesia.

Brook, it seems, is a great admirer of the writer Amandou Hampate Ba and has been wanting to create this piece for 50 years and this feels like his personal homage to him. At its centre is the absurdity of religion and religioius fundamentalism but the piece is full of truisms that take us nowhere new. What we are longing for is a learning or a realising of something new and profound and this offers us neither.

There are moments however, such as the final meeting between the two main spiritual leaders Tierno Bokar and Cherif Hamallal, where the two walk slowly together at the back of the stage in the way of deeply spiritual and actualised beings who are not of this world, that you really do feel you are in the presence of two such leaders. The tempo and feeling is one you would find on a spiritual retreat.

Whether or not this works as a piece of theatre is another matter; or maybe that is the 'experience' that Brook wants us to undergo with this production. It doesn't take us anywhere new or offers new insights, but is a slice of storytelling that does capture at times a true feeling of the essence of spirituality. It is both disappointing yet curious. Sometimes compelling in the beauty of its simplicity of staging and interestingly punctuated by the emotional music of Toshi Tsuchitori and yet at the end you are left wondering if you have missed something or if you have just been expecting too much.