Simon Watt
One of his legs, he can’t remember which
Bursting at the seams with existential angst, Molloy asks, ‘Can it be that we are not free?’, before dispensing with his philosophical musings by adding with deadpan delivery, ‘Someone should look into it’. This constant humour acts as the antidote to the incessant nihilism. Lovett’s comic timing is spot on, his performance, perfect.
An aesthetic of the displaced
The piece’s real strength comes from its constant humour. This is squeezed from every single opportunity, be it in the form of a gentle nuance or a cheery attitude to mutilation.
A tragic jigsaw puzzle
The play is essentially about loss, not just in the robbery of life through the acts of terrorism that link the scenes and characters, but the loss of love, considered through unrequited affection, the breakdown of friendships, the estrangement of relatives and the weight of the unsaid that bears down on former lovers.
Under fire at the theatre
No matter the reasons and morality behind a conflict, a soldier exists in a whole other world of experience. The evening gives us a taste.
Molière meets the meta-theatrical Muppet Show
Even before we take our seats they circulate among the crowd, joking, dancing, singing and flirting. Audience members are preyed upon from here on in. A dozen or so are sequestered for a cancan at the beginning and a few others are coerced or threatened into playing larger roles. The fourth wall is well and truly obliterated.
Music and chats in the wilds of Wales
What made the weekend so fantastic was not just the quality of the music but the various other diversions on offer. These ranged from busking scientists, yoga and banjo workshops to nature walks and of course the cinema and comedy tents.
Nuanced eccentricity
The comedy is only made possible with the aid of a cross shaped table, swivelling chairs and the performers admirable deftness of execution. Such feats of timing are a testament to the all round slickness of a company who are faultless throughout.
Theatre for children with a dark side
The introduction is a treat in itself, but things step up a notch when the lights blow and a black-hooded figure orders us to sit down while a Victorian ghost story is acted out before us.
Uncle Vanya
Everyone is overworked or at least thinks they are. Vanya is depressed. All the older people are depressed. They feel that it is too late for them, that they have wasted their youths through selfless dedication, and that they should have seized control of their lives earlier. The young in contrast feel bound by the chains of servitude and await their rewards in heaven because they will find no relief here on earth.
