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| Edinburgh : A&E : Theatre: Reviews |
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Theatre listings > No Comment.
- British Premiere. Performer - Grace Ellen Barkey. Author - Josse De Pauw. Music - Maarten Seghers. Translation - Gregory Ball. Salome. Performer - Anneke Bonnema (replaces Carlotta Sagna). Author - Charles L.Mee. Music - Nicolo Paganini. No Comment. Performer - Tijen Lawton. Choreography - Tijen Lawton and Jan Lauwers. Music - Rombout Willems, Doachim Mann, Walter Hus, Senjan Jansen, Hans Peter Dahl, Felix Seger. Ulrike. Performer - Viviane De Muynck. Author - Jan Lauwers. Translation - Gregory Ball. Costume Designer -Lot Lemm . Lighting Designer - Joris De Bolle and Jan Lauwers . Sound Designer - Dre Schneider. Company - Needcompany with Theatre de la Ville (Paris) in association with Kaaitheatre (Brussels). Venue - Tramway Theatre, 25 Albert Drive, Glasgow. Dates - Fri 29 & Sat 30 October at 8pm Run Time - 95 mins No interval Reviewer - Ruth Mckee Delivers more than just spectacle. The warning phrase, "Don't make a spectacle of yourself", was given an entirely new spin by Needcompany's No Comment. A bejewelled, levitating tea-drinker shrieked existentialist questions at a bemused audience. A beautiful Salome confessed to shocking acts of sexual abuse. And a bikini-clad woman danced as if there were no other way to speak. With stunning lighting and costumes, Jan Lauwers and his collaborators create a poignant exploration of the myriad meanings of femininity. The first of three monologues, The Tea Drinker, is a glittering treasure trove of shining jewels. Many-coloured theatre lights create a hanging backdrop for Grace Ellen Barkey's spectacular performance. Costumed in a lavish headdress, plush gold skirts and sparkling bangles, her highly stylised movements, create a lavish sensuality. She counts her mistakes on her fingers and as her pain and frustration grow, floats towards the ceiling. The lamps are suddenly switched on, and the audience looks away, temporarily blinded. Floating amongst the jewels of the lights, the tea drinker creates a striking image of a magnificent female deity. Salome is a sharp contrast to the monologue which precedes it. Strobe lighting throws the crumbling back wall of Tramway 1 into sharp relief. As the fairy lights framing the front of the stage flash on and off, Anneke Bonnema appears clad in a clinging electric blue evening gown. Salome proceeds to deliver an amusing yet deeply disturbing account of her career as a prostitute and her lust fuelled relationship with the sadistic "Paul", "He was wild in bed, I….I mean, a woman, would do anything to stay with him" Her disarmingly frank attitude to sex by turns entertains and empowers, "The first time I had group sex was on a hill above Lyon". However as the extent of her compliance with her boyfriend's perversions emerge, we are sickened. Repulsed by our too-ready sympathy, as much as by Salome's revelations. Tijen Lawton's solo dance, No Comment, succeeds in liberating the performer from text-bound definitions of self. In revealing so much of her body, she creates a new language that can express a multi-layered identity, which renders words superfluous. Direct Address to the audience is a feature of each of the monologues. In Ulrike, Viviane De Muynck, microphone in hand, strolls casually towards us. Viviane's strong presence and powerful vocal quality result in a wholly convincing portrayal of a woman confused and disorientated by the change that advancing years brings to her sense of self. A confident woman, she disconcerts us by her flippant attitude to mortality. She chooses her own terms to depart, "I want to go out with a bang" and she does. Jan Lauwers has created four powerful portraits of women struggling to define themselves. This piece does, at times, verge on the abstract and vaguely oblique. However the ultimate image is of optimistically "Going out with a bang", and for the sheer spectacle alone, it is well worth seeing. © Ruth Mckee 29 October 2004. - Published on EdinburghGuide.com Theatre Editor, Thelma Good's e-mail is thelma@edinburghguide.com Although every effort has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the information presented in these pages, no responsibility can be accepted for any errors or omissions. Theatre listings >
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