Carousel Britannico was a delightfully strange show which concentrated on the myriad compositions of the human mind.
A set that looked something like a cross between a Noel Coward production and an Escher painting enhanced this curious, original and visual work, leading it somewhere nearer to the field of performance art than to standard theatre.
There were some very funny, very subtle moments in the evening's entertainment, particularly when all eight performers, never taking themselves too seriously, sent up ‘High Art’, the lingo of ‘New Age’ philosophies, and symbolism from Jung to Magritte.
For anyone who has complained that physical theatre has become too verbose, here was a highly visual show – so visual, in fact, that one was never quite sure from which piece of the intricate set the next performer would appear; and appear and disappear they did, constantly for one hour.
Theatre Pur's work is hard to compare to others as it stands up as truly original; the minor flaws in the piece occurring with some seemingly unnecessary images, such as when several of the actors stripped down to reveal quite emaciated forms. As nudity seems to have lost its shock value these days, the only reason I could find for doing this was to illustrate a good cause for more money to the arts!
That said, this was a most interesting, enjoyable and unusual piece of work – I look forward to seeing what comes next.