UK Theatre Network

The miracle of magic.

Lumenis Theatre Company presents a double-bill of contemporary dance and new writing exploring themes of belongings and isolation.

Casa is a theatrical dance piece with elements of structured improvisation, a collage of still images and stylized sketches inspired from typical everyday life situations. A dancer wearing a black coat enters. He smiles at the audience and has a definite bulge in his trousers – which turns out to be green wig. He puts it on and tries to form a relationship with the audience. Suddenly somebody claps and the dancer quickly disappears.

Two men and six women in black coats are on the stage. A woman in a red coat and dress enters. She is eyed suspiciously. Only one black clad dancer is willing to approach her. They dance together, holding on to each other’s coats, using the red coat in a fake bull fight, finally sharing coats. After they swap coats the dancer now wearing the red coat seems free, moving happily to the music of a cellist. The dancer who is now wearing the black coat finds the other black clad dancers crowding in on her. In the end she will be assimilated.

This is an impressive performance by Lumenis Theatre Company. Power games, submission, togetherness and isolation are elegantly and movingly choreographed by Annarita Mazzilli.

Magical Chairs is an absurdist play by Mary Mazzilli about childhood, magic tricks and musical chairs - a game with realistic undertones and dystopic nuances.

A living doll is chained to a chair. There are a number of covered chairs on stage, a pair of high heeled shoes and a wooden cabinet. A news program on the radio announces: "There are an estimated 143 million abandoned chairs worldwide. Many millions more are abandoned or separated from their immediate and extended owners, living on the street, in institutions, or supporting their siblings on their own..." A chair magician checks on the doll and starts playing with the chairs while his new assistant puts on the high heels and slips. The magician is not satisfied with his new assistant - his former assistant loved chairs and could walk in high heels. She also had long legs. The new assistant hates chairs and is afraid of heights. She does not have long legs. But today is different because there will finally be another performance. Will anybody come to see it?

The idea of abandoned chairs becoming a welfare issue is quite ingenious. The spats between the Chair Magician and his unmotivated assistant are very funny at times. However, I was especially impressed by the Living Doll who was also very much like a child doing acrobats whilst not being watched,then being pushed back and forth between the magician and his assistant, looking terrified.

Both performances are definitely worth seeing.

Until 21 May 2011

Blue Elephant Theatre, 59a Bethwin Road, Camberwell, London SE5 0T

www.blueelephanttheatre.co.uk

Like any real rock star Tim Vine hired a support act for his show, in this case John Archer who appeared as a magician cum comedian. Archer asked the audience: “Would you like to read peoples’ minds?” and invited them to participate in his tricks. It was a rather long half hour and Archer screaming into the microphone did not really help his act.

After the interval the king of the one-liner, punmeister and star of BBC1 Live at the Apollo and Not Going Out appeared. He was wearing one of several funny hats and delivering jokes at break neck speed. Not all of them worked but it did not matter because there were so many of them: “What do you think of the Chinese Dynasty? – It’s badly dubbed.” His cascade of puns was interrupted by a number of songs, such as “Is it a banana or is it a torch?”, “Little Piece of Carpet” or “Don’t Drop the Laptop.” Finally, Tim Vine presented two special guests – his father and the infamous Flag Hippo. 

Tim Vine is one of the few comics holding up the music-hall tradition of being incredibly and recklessly daft. Wearing a hat made out of balls of wool and a crimson uniform he makes every member of the audience sigh with relief that we will never look as stupid as that. Much of his material is second rate but this seems intentional. The audience ends up laughing at the idea that we are supposed to laugh at such lame jokes. However, some are genuinely funny gags and Tim is a seriously nice chap. I particularly liked the aerial sketch and Vine’s Bee Gees impersonation.

Tim Vine’s tour has now ended.