Writings

Circa: Closer

August 17th, 2016 by

Four chairs, four performers – two male, two female. A rope, a tying-up game – which turns into a powerful corde lisse routine by Lauren Hurley (who was first seen seen and admired by Total Theatre in previous show What Will Have Been). The frenetic soundtrack breaks into a cheesy Cha Cha and all four […]

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Manual Cinema: Ada/Ava

August 17th, 2016 by

Ada and Ava are twin sisters. We first meet them in their home as elderly ladies, taking tea as the clock tick-tocks. But are they both really here? Where does one self end and another begin? It transpires that Ava is dead and Ada is holding tight to her memory. The mourning is a painful […]

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Sita Pieraccini/Feral: Bird

August 17th, 2016 by

So it seems it is a solo, but soon you realise that it is a duet. While she conjures up many different environments on the stage (a shelter, a hole, a sand desert, a burnt forest), he makes music and sound with his hands, mouth, tongue and even with his feet. The sound of dried […]

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Nina Conti: In Your Face

August 16th, 2016 by

Coming to this sell-out show completely fresh, my prior knowledge was limited to an understanding of Nina Conti as an established performer with considerable popularity, judging both by my research and the packed house of excitedly expectant audience members on the night that I attended. Bar knowing that Conti is an extremely accomplished ventriloquist, having […]

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ParaladosanjoS: Molhados&Secos (Wet and Dry)

August 16th, 2016 by

Made in response to the Brazilian floods of recent years,  Sao Paulo based circus/visual/physical theatre company ParaladosanjoS have crafted a disorientating and affecting attempt to capture the material and human cost of ‘natural’ disasters. The harrowing toll includes the floods which the company members experienced personally in their home town of Campinas, Sao Paulo; the floods […]

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