Author Archives: Tara Boland

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About Tara Boland

A London based performer and theatre-maker working mainly in devised theatre and interactive performance, Tara has also worked extensively with children and young people as a workshop facilitator, director and writer and is interested in theatre for the young at heart, immersive theatre and theatre clown. She has performed at numerous venues, including BAC and The Old Vic Tunnels, and is currently training full-time in Lecoq method at the London International School of Performing Arts.

David Rosenberg & Glen Neath: Ring ¦ Photo: Susanne Dietz

David Rosenberg & Glen Neath: Ring

David Rosenberg & Glen Neath: Ring ¦ Photo: Susanne Dietz

David Rosenberg’s work with Shunt has often played with the role of the audience – putting audiences in uncomfortable situations, forcing them to make decisions, pushing them into voyeuristic viewings of intimate situations. Ring sees audiences placed right at the centre of the action, and as a ‘performance’ delivered entirely in complete darkness it certainly breaks down the barriers of audience-performer relationships.

Before entering the Council Chamber at BAC we are handed a pair of radio headphones each, seated in a room arranged simply for what could be any general ‘help’ meeting, and greeted by an academic gentleman who suggests an air of psychological experimentation in his use of language.

The following 50 minutes, in pitch darkness, darkness so black you can’t see your hand in front of your face, are filled only with aural action. We hear (or think we hear) movements and voices in the room around us. A voice whispers so close to my ear that the warm breath itches my eardrum. I keep my eyes open throughout and wince as I feel chairs pulling away from me on either side and sense figures standing around me in a tight circle. It seems that there has been a mistaken identity, and I am at the centre of a dark and surreal plot that leaves me feeling vulnerable, intrigued and empowered. The heady mix of emotions and heightened senses is exhilarating, and whilst the darkness is inhibiting, the tone of the piece and dark subject matter also suggest that it is liberating. If no one can see me, no one can see what I do.

As theatre moves more and more into the realm of mixed media, the splicing of these two worlds can sometimes feel clunky and gimmicky. Ring, however, was neither of these, with clever writing, a careful setting, and the use of binaural sound technology creating an engaging and heavily visceral experience for the audience. Enabling an entirely personal encounter for each audience member and evoking fear, intrigue and uncertainty, Ring left me feeling utterly satisfied – having scarcely seen a performer, I felt like a star.

www.glenneath.co.uk

Laura Hemming-Lowe, Beauty / Life: Taster Session 2

Jessica Latowicki / Laura Hemming-Lowe: Sprint Festival Double Bill

Laura Hemming-Lowe, Beauty / Life: Taster Session 2

It has been said that the best way to provoke thought is often with a smile: the release of tension relaxes audiences before they’re landed with a good punch. So with big smiles, get ready for big punches…

First up in a double-bill at Camden People’s Theatre’s Sprint festival is Jessica Latowicki. In a sparkling gold sequin dress, accessorised with shimmering tights and shoes, she smiles in her small spotlight in the intimate surroundings of the CPT studio and warmly tells us that she is very grateful to be sharing this evening with us. You can’t help but like her. She then explains that she will be running into the (thinly crash-matted) wall behind her, at full speed, twenty times tonight. Pulling on knee pads and a crash helmet, she delivers an articulate, dark and witty script that explores why she should do this. Her writing and delivery are precise and thoughtful, funny and provocative. Jessica chews over the notion that she is ‘spare capacity’ in society, and touches on the principles of dictatorial regimes where ‘spare capacity’ is cut from existence. She delivers social comment on existence, performance and ridiculousness in exacting and evocative text that is strong, hard, sparkling and beautiful.

The finale where Jess repeatedly runs into the wall in a flash of gold sequins provides a physicalisation of her written style whilst demonstrating her insistent point: she is doing this because she wants to and because she can, and we are watching her because we want to and because we can, and this is good.

A short interval and we’re ready for Beauty / Life: Taster Session 2. It begins with an introduction to Lauretta Hart (the artist Laura Hemming-Lowe’s persona for the performance), who greets us with big smiles, bigger lashes, oodles of hair, oozing lipstick, heels so teetering they seem to be approaching the realms of drag, and a white beauty salon coat. The air is filled with the sickly sweet smells of vanilla and bubblegum and the soothing tones of panpipe whale music. Ushered into the circle of chairs by her two equally well put-together assistants, we discover a carrot waiting for us on each of our seats. A signpost for the ensuing absurdity.

Lauretta gets going with some life coaching advice and a few quotes from a wonderfully ridiculous but genuine book Sex and the Single Girl by Helen Gurley Brown (apparently a huge influence on the cosmetic surgery industry and an inspiration for the creators of Sex and the City!) on how to be more sexy. The laughter starts to trickle in before the slippery descent into the fantastical madness of Lauretta’s beauty methods begins. The first treatment involves us biting the tops off our carrots and rubbing them over our faces for a ‘natural fake tan’; all audience members willingly rub along whilst the three beauticians begin a small and precise movement sequence to swipe, wiggle and pull the carrots over themselves. The laughs are now coming in thick and fast.

Lauretta goes on to demonstrate her increasingly fantastical techniques; if you imagine that we start with a carrot and end in a slippery, squelchy slop of summer fruits and icing sugar, you will begin to paint half the picture of the wonderfully mad, messy, brilliant and amazingly hilarious ‘treatments’ that are demonstrated.

As I dry my face from the tears of laughter, a simple realisation settles: that which I have just seen is no more ridiculous than the treatments numerous people are receiving in actual beauty salons. The extremes of action and appearance give a strong sense of the violence committed to the body in the name of ‘beauty’, whilst the performativity of the treatments seems to allude to questions about the performativity of gender.

As the performance becomes increasingly messy, I become increasingly hysterical, yet we are never made to laugh at Lauretta. Endearing and personable, Laura presents her persona with a precise sense of consistency throughout, ad-libbing with audience members about yoga retreats in India and giving small scoldings to her assistants. The sincerity of delivery makes the hilarity of the actions all the more wonderful.

Hilarious, beautiful, ridiculous and imaginative, Laura Hemming-Lowe delivers a concise and articulate comment on the beauty industry and the confused notion of what constitutes attractiveness today.

I leave with a smile on my face and a quiet reflection on the precision, boldness and clarity of these two artists – a very well selected pairing for the Sprint festival. Both performances deliver witty, dark and exacting social comment with confidence and deftly constructed performance methods. A brilliant evening of mess, madness, beautiful images, laughs and political punches.

www.madeinchinatheatre.com / www.laurahemminglowe.blogspot.co.uk