Theatre / angus barr
Review: We Are Bront?, Wardrobe Theatre
The shimmering pallets providing the backdrop give no indication of the ensuing silliness. A woman a few seats across giving her personal review of The Hateful Eight suggests that “Tarantino needs to grow up”. It will not be five minutes before everyone (herself included) is tittering at disembodied squeaky cases, disembodied wind, disembodied creaky door handles, door knockers, peep holes, locks, jangly keys – and Fireman Sam Clingfilm water.
Bristol’s wonderful Publick Transport bring their hilarious Brontë schtick to the Wardrobe Theatre’s new Old Market home. Inspired by the real and imaginary worlds of the Brontës and devised and performed by Sarah Corbett and Angus Barr, We Are Brontë provides a glorious mash-up of physical theatre, stand-up, clowning, improvisation – and a self-conscious exploration of both the Brontë sisters’ genre-defining work and the nature of theatre itself (director Ed Rapley’s repertoire includes working with the immortal Punchdrunk).
is needed now More than ever
Structured as a series of thematically linked sketches, the show provides a dissection and post-mortem of just about every Gothic trope in the English literature A-Level anthology. In something akin to the opening of a Kenan & Kel episode, every so often the lights flick on for the audience to break the fourth wall and provide an explanation of which Gothic subtlety to be on the lookout for, lest our unlearned minds gloss over the nuances.
“This is a really good bit,” observes Barr’s character. He’s not joking. The couple’s physicality is unparalleled: every step purposeful, every double take timed to a tee. Barr’s skillset, indeed, doesn’t end at his fingertips: even his puppetry is on point.
The masterminds go as far as mocking directing tropes themselves, even apologising to the audience for their inadequate staging. The fourth
wall is well and truly broken by the time the audience are settled into the midway Q&A session: so come armed with some loaded questions. Even puppetry (still enjoying a theatrical revival) fails to escape the guillotine.
Set, props, lighting and sound by Dan Addyman, Tomasin Cuthbert, Richard Gale and Tarquin Boyesen combine to form something that looks and feels like a cross between a Hammer Horror and the music video for The Rasmus’ In the Shadows.
Witty physical theatre at its finest. Go and see it.
We Are Brontë continues at the Wardrobe Theatre until Saturday, January 23. For more info and to book tickets, visit www.thewardrobetheatre.com/livetheatre/we-are-bronte