“discipline, creativity and spontaneity collide, tension rises and falls, pace quickens and slows”
Amidst the multitude and diversity of acts at VAULT Festival, ‘Tarot’ offers a unique experience which brings together the creative talent and flair of The Feathers of Daedalus Circus, soul-funk group, Yoshi and the charmingly wry yet piquant host, Ruby Wednesday. As we enter the Forge, the underground jazz club cabaret scene is set as the band sit on stage in the semi-dark, conjuring up a mystical soundscape. Through a brief introduction and explanation of tarot, Ruby Wednesday’s seductive sharpness leads the audience into the deck of images and enigmas. The show begins. Cards in turn are defined by the host and illustrated by dramatic acrobatics and aerial expertise; the Fool dances on his hands, the Hanged Man twists and turns on the rope, hand to hand balancing depicts Strength and the Devil contorts around suspended chains. The troupe (Imogen Huzel, Josh Frazer, Tessa Blackman and Lauren Jamieson) alternate their set pieces with improvised numbers during Ruby Wednesday’s live tarot readings with members of the audience. And as if this were not enough, the eclectic band of musicians produce a lavish range of styles to accompany the pictures. Equally at home playing sleazy jazz as atmospheric ethnic timbres or electronic sound design, lead singer, Ben Smith also gives us some inspired vocal improvisation and rap.
The team works together with a refreshing lack of protagonism and there is always something on stage to watch – if not the aerial hoop or Cyr wheel, then the bassist and drummer playing a gamelan duet or Ruby Wednesday’s fiery finale. It is true that ‘Tarot’ ties together a rather random collection of skills and ideas; discipline, creativity and spontaneity collide, tension rises and falls, pace quickens and slows. But it succeeds through the abundance of craftsmanship and the unusual proximity to this kind of performance, which immerses us in the technical and inventive worlds.
Irresistibly watchable, ‘Tarot’ is original, free-spirited and entertaining.
“Resourcefully minimalist, the coordination is slick and the acting, confident”
Hamlet sees his dead father’s ghost, pretends to go mad with revenge, becomes mad with revenge and everybody dies. Similarly, in a whirlwind performance, ‘6Foot Stories’ encapsulates Shakespeare’s longest work in just over an hour. The play, often abridged to around three hours, weaves together a complexity of themes, motifs and psychology which, while engaging the audience, challenges them with questions on certainty vs indecision, action vs inaction, appearance vs reality. Here, branching off from the up-dating, setting-change and gender-reversal productions, it is the group of actors employed by Hamlet to reenact his father’s murder and prompt a guilty reaction in his uncle, who also witness the ghost and are commanded to incite vengeance for his death. Thereupon, the players rewrite the script they have been given and hope to fire up Hamlet’s wrath.
We are packed into their rehearsal room, walls strewn with plot and character analyses, and watch this condensed retelling as the three members of cast put pen to paper and draw up a narrative involving the prince. Sharing roles as well as technical duties, each takes their turn as sound engineer, lighting technician, stage manager…and Hamlet, while adopting the play’s other main parts: Amy Fleming is a bumbling, pipe-smoking Polonius; sensitive, fragile Ophelia is played by Will Bridges; Jake Hassam towers above as charming antagonist, Claudius. At an enthusiastic pace, we are whisked through a simplified storyline which incorporates the essential highlights of plot and script and sums up the characters. The team operates their own lighting (designed by Nigel Munson), helping to dramatise the action, and sound (Jake Hassam), sometimes enhancing, other times rather overpowering in such a small venue. Thoughtful and well-constructed, this adaptation incorporates brief touches of puppetry, live music and fight sequences, all of which keep the sense of a theatrical environment and there are occasional strong moments of drama – Ophelia’s death, for example. But it is confusing as to the motivation behind the project apart from a live summary.
The creative roots and backstory of the company are evident through the production’s original style and lively energy. Resourcefully minimalist, the coordination is slick and the acting, confident. For those already familiar with ‘Hamlet’ it is a fun view from a different angle, a catch-up of old friends. Newcomers to the work might get the gist of the tale but, then again, may not.
