Theatre / Reviews
Review: Beautiful Evil Things, Tobacco Factory Theatres – ‘A visceral and electrifying performance’
Bristol based Ad Infinitum theatre company is committed to producing diverse artistic productions with an emphasis on ensuring that those whose voices are pushed to the edge are heard.
And curiously, Greek mythology provides rich ground for such an aim. A browse through the shelves of every bookshop will reveal a current taste for such tales with novels including Circe and The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller, Women of Troy and Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker and Clytemnestra by Constanza Casati.
A common theme is that women are central to these stories, despite being neglected for years in favour of more aggressive, fighting male figures.
is needed now More than ever
In Beautiful Evil Things, Deborah Pugh, as co-creator, deviser, solo performer and co-composer, tells the stories surrounding the decade-long Trojan War through the stone-cold eyes of Medusa. After all, she tells us, despite this being the story of a severed head, she was there. Through all of it.
The opening is electrifying as Pugh bellows and groans, with a reverberating sonic boom of a voice as she introduces herself as the monster with hair of snakes, eyes that can turn anyone to stone and an energy to die for.
With her head strapped to the shield of Athena’s shield, she transports us to a world filled with a dizzying array of warriors, gorgons, and gods.
For just over an hour and a quarter, this highest of high energy shows combines impressive physical theatre with moments of the most extreme dramatic content.
Breaking into a more homely voice, Pugh occasionally gives an acerbic comment about some of the characters portrayed; her salty language only exacerbating the immediacy of the ancient tales.
We meet the seer Cassandra, the abused mother Clytemnestra and the one we are told never to forget, the woman for all times, the Amazonian queen Penthesilea. The latter is not concerned with modern day door-to-door delivery but death-defying duels, most notably portrayed in a heart-stopping battle with the gloriously preening Achilles.
One of the principal messages is that although some nasty things happen to women in the history of the wars, they are never the victims. They are so much more than the tragedy that might befall them, and their fate never tells the whole story.
Pugh struts around the Factory Theatre stage, shimmying, shaking, skipping and snapping her body into oblique angles, all the while controlling the narrative. She looks like she is ready to do battle herself and her performance is captivating in its visceral intensity.
Much credit goes to co-creator and director George Mann and the marvellous soundscape by Sam Halmarrack, which Pugh appears to control effortlessly with a look or click of her fingers, transforming moods in milliseconds. I have seen many productions on this stage, but never with such a mesmerising immersive sound.
The set is plain, with a semicircle of microphones on stands, and the central one utilised as a spear, a double-edged axe, or to transform Medusa’s shape. When her head is decapitated, she gathers swirls of red cabling around her and we watch open-mouthed as her blood transforms into serpents dropping on the earth below.
Precise shafts of light spear and swirl around Pugh and we are there with her through all Medusa’s travails through time and space.
As she says at the end, these stories demand to be listened to. And, like the women within them, they will never be forgotten.
Beautiful Evil Things is at Tobacco Factory Theatres on February 27-March 2 at 7.30pm, with an additional 2.30pm show on Saturday. Tickets are available at www.tobaccofactorytheatres.com.
Main photo: Idil Sukan
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