Theatre / Reviews
Moments, Tobacco Factory Theatres – ‘Interesting, but not totally convincing’
Why are we here? Why is there a chair on the stage? And why is a philosopher included in the list of creatives?
Although they don’t, and can’t, come close to explaining the first question, the second one does makes sense by the end of the 50 minutes.
The set comprises the aforementioned chair, a keyboard and a lighting deck. Theatre Re introduce Moments by explaining that they are interested in creating interesting, visual, conceptual theatre using repetitive movements, mime, music and lighting to create something new.
is needed now More than ever
Moments is conceived and directed by actor and mime artist Guillaume Pigé and devised by the rest of the company – namely the lighting coordinator Katherine Graham, and Alex Judd who operates keyboards, violin and a sound loop. Oh, and not forgetting the unseen Benjamin (Benjy) Adams on sound.
It begins with a mime by Pigé who in staccato motion looks at his watch before morphing into a variety of characters, spinning and turning before finally grabbing a chair which is whirled around until it is held above his head.
He is interrupted by Graham and Judd who say he is doing it too fast. They proceed to break down the granular actions before they are rebuilt.
One strength of the performance lies in the capable artistry of Pigé. He convinces in the translation between various characters and his physical theatre is correctly placed centre stage. The lighting, although lacking originality, enhances the performance effectively, and the opening explanation about the number of lights used in the show puts lighting at the forefront of the audience’s mind. Judd plays an evocative soundtrack to accompany the scene as it is reconstructed from the beginning to the end and then back to the beginning again.
There are hints of the narrative to come in personal stories of Pigé and Judd becoming parents and Graham owning her late father’s watch. The piece gets assembled, block by block, until meaning and purpose are given greater integrity.
We learn that Moments comprises tiny elements of magic, although these elements cannot be viewed in isolation, but need to be combined with emotion before they have resonance. And so various techniques are adapted until the narrative is completed, combined with sound and lights to achieve a genuine story. This, they explain, is how “we make moments feel magic”.
The areas that are not so convincing lie in the artifice that we are watching a live rehearsal space. Although Pigé is an accomplished actor, the other two, by their own admission, are not. Some wooden dialogue detracts from the pretence and ultimately weakens the whole performance. Pigé says that “if a moment doesn’t feel magic, it’s on me”. Well, up to a point.
The final sequence combines all the elements neatly but then goes beyond, to lose any trace that this is a work-in-progress.
As to the third question posed at the outset, understanding why a philosopher is present in the list of creatives is possibly itself a philosophical question, and one that Theatre Re may return to in a later show.
Moments is at Tobacco Factory Theatres on October 23-24 at 7.30pm, with an additional 2.30pm matinee show on Wednesday. Tickets are available at www.tobaccofactorytheatres.com.
Main photo: Tobacco Factory Theatres
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