Tag Archives: Vaults Theatre

Becoming Shades – 3 Stars

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Becoming

Becoming Shades

The Vaults

Reviewed – 26th January 2018

★★★

“Less self indulgence is needed here and more honesty”

 

Part installation, part dance, part circus, part music gig, part aerial acrobatics, part opera, part rave, part mime, part physical theatre; “Becoming Shades” at the Vault Festival is in danger of throwing too many ingredients into the pot. Yes, it is spectacular and enthralling, but a jumble of confusion at the same time.

It is a retelling of the myth of Persephone and Hades, but it is better to forget that from the start and just let yourself be swept along with the unspecified emotion of the piece. Performed by Chivaree Circus and directed by Laurane Marchive, this all female circus troupe display exceptional skills on the ground and in the air with silks, hoops, chords. And fire. Accompanied by the hypnotic trip hop sounds of musician and composer Sam West and the ethereal voice of Becks Johnstone, the atmosphere becomes otherworldly at times.

On entering the space we are herded around the vault before being greeted by the ferryman of Hades (Molly Beth Morosa), allowing the audience to participate and become a collective lost soul carried across the river of Styx. But I’d recommend, at this point, finding a good spot and stay fixed to watch the spectacle from a good vantage point. There seems little benefit in being up close to the action: the narrative is near impossible to follow – it is pure visual spectacle.

Rebecca Rennison’s Persephone moves like fluid and commands the evening, culminating in a finale spinning in a ring of fire. Yet the rest of the seven cast are by no means supporting players. Elegantly choreographed they move as one filling each dimension of the space.

But it all lacks emotional punch and any true direction. The programme notes state that “we didn’t want to give the audience members clear answers: we want to let them decide for themselves”, which is theatre talk for lack of focus. Less self indulgence is needed here and more honesty – just be happy that this is a visually stunning show and a pleasure to watch gripping and highly skilled acrobatics.

The Vault Festival is in its sixth year now and is growing in its boldness and diversity to become London’s largest and most eclectic arts festival. It is worth going along for the carnival atmosphere alone without even catching one of the hundreds of shows on offer. “Becoming Shades” certainly fits in with the ethos of the Festival.

 

Reviewed by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Maximilian Webster

 


Becoming Shades

Vaults Theatre until 18th March

 

 

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Tomorrow Creeps – 4 Stars

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Creeps

Tomorrow Creeps

The Vaults

Reviewed – 25th January 2018

★★★★

“an intense kaleidoscope that is so vivid that it takes on a breathing, seething life of its own”

 

We take our seats in the dingy Cavern room in the Vaults at Waterloo. Drops of murky water drip from the ceiling, and the audience lines the stage on two sides. A thick, dimly-lit haze hangs over the stage, where the figure of a man can just be made out. David Fairs’ Tomorrow Creeps is weird before it has even begun. As a story of ghosts and madness inspired by the storytelling of Kate Bush and drawn from sixteen works from Shakespeare, weirdness is clearly high on the agenda for theatre company Golem!

The text of the play is a mixture of original writing and borrowed lines of Shakespeare, decontextualised and applied to this new, strange situation. This is a surprisingly smooth fusion that feels darkly archaic rather than simply Shakespearian and adds yet another complex, murky layer to this unique production. Unfortunately, the Kate Bush additions may have been an experiment too far, as the sudden, and mercifully sparing, sequences set to ‘80s pop hits draw nervous laughter from an unconvinced audience.

Those sections are blemish on the face of what is otherwise a stunningly visceral production. From start to finish, Tomorrow Creeps is an intense kaleidoscope that is so vivid that it takes on a breathing, seething life of its own. From the subterranean setting, to meticulous use of props and lighting, to the fact that all three actors take their bow exhausted and filthy, it is impossible to imagine that something occult has not taken place for real. The ordeal, with all its rage and the mania, is genuine.

Tomorrow Creeps is so ambitious and devastatingly odd that, inevitably, some parts come a little unstuck. While the Cavern is a wonderfully atmospheric environment, its length and acoustics meant that some sections of dialogue could easily become lost; in an unfamiliar play about madness with remixed text without obvious scene transitions, it is inevitable that some sections become difficult to follow. Nevertheless, this is an intoxicating and unique production that deserves its place at the forefront of contemporary fringe theatre.

 

Reviewed by Matthew Wild

 


Tomorrow Creeps

Vaults Theatre until 28th January

 

 

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