The White Bear is a beautiful pub, only a brief stroll from Kennington tube station and full of weird bear-themed artwork that’s amusing to peruse. The meals is scrumptious though the ten% low cost for theatregoers didn’t appear to exist, regardless of it being shouted about on their web site. Upstairs you’ll discover the theatre, and it’s your typical pub-based efficiency house, with a couple of rows of chairs and a clean canvas. Nothing uncommon in any respect. It’s right here that Director David Festivals is staging surrealist Jean Cocteau’s monodrama The Human Voice, in a model tailored by Daniel Raggett. On this manufacturing, we watch an unnamed,…
Score
40
Okay
A daring tackle a piece by certainly one of surrealism’s masters, bringing the avant-garde to Kennington
The White Bear is a beautiful pub, only a brief stroll from Kennington tube station and full of weird bear-themed artwork that’s amusing to peruse. The meals is scrumptious though the ten% low cost for theatregoers didn’t appear to exist, regardless of it being shouted about on their web site. Upstairs you’ll discover the theatre, and it’s your typical pub-based efficiency house, with a couple of rows of chairs and a clean canvas. Nothing uncommon in any respect.
It’s right here that Director David Festivals is staging surrealist Jean Cocteau’s monodrama The Human Voice, in a model tailored by Daniel Raggett. On this manufacturing, we watch an unnamed, solitary performer speaking on the cellphone, by no means listening to the individual on the opposite finish. While this idea has actual potential, the play struggles to seize the eye of the room. It’s onerous to inform if the gaps between the unheard speech on the opposite finish of the cellphone are too lengthy, or if there’s simply not sufficient drama to maintain the viewers engaged all through.
It’s fairly an eerie arrange in some ways, with a shiny vinyl flooring, medical curtains in opposition to one wall, and the stand for a drip. On getting into the house Priti Colbeck hangs up the bag for the drip and takes a seat together with her again to us. That is when she begins taking cellphone calls and it’s unclear why she appears stunned when it’s not who she needs it to be: presumably she’d have their quantity saved on what’s clearly a smartphone. This isn’t the place the confusion stops, and at many instances it’s unclear if that is intentional or not. There’s an assumption that she is a most cancers affected person, as we see her making an attempt on wigs, probably mendacity about her analysis to her ex-partner, however then afterward she’s speaking about having tried to kill herself with sleeping capsules. Maybe it’s each, nevertheless it feels muddled.
I typically don’t analysis an excessive amount of right into a play earlier than I am going, loving the ingredient of shock. However on this occasion, it might have helped. Figuring out it’s an adaptation of a piece by Cocteau, who was recognized for his surreal imagery, might have enabled the weird moments to comb over me. At instances, I felt as if I’d walked right into a room at Tate Fashionable, half anticipating to learn just a little card on the wall stating it’s the newest piece by efficiency artist Marina Abramović.
Having stated all this, even when it was a surreal piece pushing the boundaries of theatre, it nonetheless must be participating. Colbeck clearly tries to maintain us entertained, together with her more and more exasperated pretend cellphone calls, nevertheless it’s not lengthy into the play that you just sense the viewers begin to tire. It’s actually onerous to remain engrossed for the complete present. With a bit extra polish, and maybe pushing the surrealism additional in order that it feels intentional, this might be a extremely attention-grabbing piece of theatre. Sadly, for me, it was simply not fairly there but.
Written by: Jean Cocteau Adaptation by: Daniel Raggett Directed by: David Festivals Assistant course by: Conor O’Kane Produced by: Kean Avenue Productions (with the sort permission of the Chairman of the Comité Jean Cocteau)
The Human Voice performs at White Bear Theatre till 9 March. Additional data and bookings might be discovered right here.
