Bouge-de-là Theatre, The Man Who Ate His Shoes

Review in Issue 7-3 | Autumn 1995

Join the search for the North West passage and enter the solitary world of Capt. Franklin and his crew. Inspired by journals of Victorian explorers, this performance was a visual journey through the mind's eye of Capt. Franklin (played by Jon Slater) as he and his crew (Lucy O'Rourke and Aurelian Koch) sought to preserve their sanity in the Arctic world. Bizarre ship's cabarets, memories of loved ones, and wilful imagination blurred the boundaries of reality. Crafted scenography created some memorable visual moments, demonstrating a real skill in quality theatrical magic. Strong lighting, image projection (Adrian Pawley), and original music (Jon Wygens and Nick Powell) including a Victorian barrel organ from an actual expedition, combined to capture the flavour and atmosphere of this very eerie world. Bouge-de-là have a strong interest in design, thus prop and set were much to the fore, but unlike many making-based companies their objects were not just innovative, but purposeful and effective tools, and did not impose on the strong performance elements. Directed by Mark Whitelaw (Glee Club) this was an impressive work with images that lingered long in the mind. It is a refreshing change to see such an individual style from a Lecoq-trained company.

Presenting Artists
Presenting Venue
Date Seen
  1. Apr 1995

This article in the magazine

Issue 7-3
p. 22