Theatre / george mann
Review: Light, Bristol Old Vic Studio
Theatre Ad Infinitum bursts onto the Bristol stage for three nights only in a force field of energy with their sixth show, Light, trailing a slew of international awards and accolades in their wake.
The Guardian’s Lyn Gardner (spotted hurrying into today’s In Between Time Festival like Alice’s White Queen), famously dubbed their last show, Ballad of the Burning Star, “a theatrical hand grenade”.
To extend the metaphor, Light is more like a theatrical cattle-prod to the sensory areas of the brain. Director and writer George Mann – Bristol Old Vic’s newly appointed Quercus award-winning associate director – was inspired to create Light by Edward Snowden’s revelations about the security services and their widespread privacy violations (‘light’ is their codename for our metadata – though mine would probably amount to a shopping list and yes, I would confess immediately to having done it in ASDA).
It’s also a sickening fact that leading international arms traders now flock to our capital twice a year for the world’s largest weaponry fair (DSEI), to peruse the very latest in leg restraints, stun batons and worse.
As Light is performed entirely in darkness, illumined only by small searchlights and LV tubes, I only have memory data to go on. Light conjures a nightmare totalitarian dystopia in which all citizens have brain implants, enabling their thoughts to be harvested by Peace of Mind HQ: “connected by our thoughts, connected by love, connected in security”.
The execution is mind-blowingly fast-paced, slick and technically immaculate and many genres are elegantly referenced – Grotowski’s Theatre of Cruelty, early silent German Expressionist films, everything sci-fi (including Star Wars, with a twist: “I AM your mother!”), Japanese Manga comics, SGI animation and even Ninja footwear – though the overall effect is a chilling assault on the senses which rather numbs the ability to identify with and feel moved by the characters and their story. QED: mission accomplished.
Light continues at Bristol Old Vic Studio until Saturday, February 14. For more info and to book tickets, visit http://www.bristololdvic.org.uk/light.html
Pics: Alex Brenner
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