Out of eleven shows, this was the best performance I saw in the Festival. Somewhere between Performance Art and Theatre it managed to walk a tightrope stretched between boredom on the one hand and pretentiousness on the other without falling off.
Coles and Gent, both bull-necked and shaven headed, looking like the heavy mob at Sing-Sing, performed with an introverted intensity that was magnetic. The play was about the creative process which led to the boiling of an egg. It doesn't bear explaining – you had to be there. They shared nothing with the audience. None of those blank stares straight into the auditorium designed to invite laughter.
Here it felt like looking through a keyhole and witnessing the private rituals of two men at work. Only once did they break their deep-frowned concentration.
They only rarely acknowledged each other’s presence on stage and even then without the humanity of eye contact, just the analytical stare of the scientist. They didn't speak throughout, accompanied only by the intermittent background of laboratory noises and the deftly chosen, very funny soundtrack of a snooker game.
They are both physically accomplished movers and their mutual timing and play of abstract movement was terrific. The real genius of this is that it all sounds boring. In the event it was hilarious, while still dealing with a serious subject. This is what Mime is all about, dealing with subjects in a way that cannot be encompassed in words. Chance and Ripeness needs the right venue and audience. We were lucky to have both. This piece is a little diamond, elegantly performed.