| “ If You Go, You Will Enjoy" |
At the Other Room |
| Some People Talk About Violence , The Other Room – Porters , November 22, 2016 |
Oh what a lucky reviewer I am. As I have mentioned before I believe this is a golden age of local and touring productions in Cardiff and when a free ticket is offered I find it difficult to refuse. Despite returning to a wet & windy Cardiff 3.00 Sunday morning having seen “Lazarus” & “The Nest” on Saturday & feeling tired I was lured back to Porters 2 days later. To be honest I was nearly put off by the title “ Some People Talk About Violence” and reading that this was a devised piece. The modern world is not currently a happy place and I wasn’t really in the mood for a “worthy, in your face, state of the nation play”. However, I have learnt from this extraordinary year of theatre that ( to paraphrase A Kevin Costner film ) “ If You Go, You Will Enjoy" ( Field Of Dreams). I did and I did. As we took our seats we were welcomed by the cast of 4 from Barrel Organ theatre company. They then handed out an envelope to 4 members of the audience telling them which role they would be playing in this production. The story revolves around The Girl who has broken into another person's bathroom and her tale is told by herself, her brother, their mother and a narrator, a brilliant device of telling the audience what actually happened if the character is not exactly truthful, either intentionally or just a different interpretation of events through forgetfulness or guilt. This does sound serious but I am not giving the performers or the writers full credit. It is extremely funny, both through the dialogue, that we can all relate to, or the very fast paced changes of direction, which you as an audience member on the edge of your seat. The narrator's other job is to create a variety of quick improvisational exercises which are later used as part of the plot. They also find time to incorporate dialogue recorded by members of the audience, which is one way of getting us actively involved. However, the humour only enhances, and does not distract from the knowledge that this is a play about a person suffering from depression and how it impacts on their loved ones. Once again I am astonished at the talent and ambition of young companies nowadays. I hadn't heard about Barrel Organ before I will certainly look out for their future work. You have until Saturday to catch them at The Other Room at Porters ( although they do continue their tour in Sheffield). (Last week I thoroughly enjoyed "Love,Lies & Taxidermy" at the Sherman Theatre, which I missed at Summerhall at the Edinburgh Fringe festival in August. And guess what , that was the same venue " Some People Talk About Violence" was playing. Since we stay very close we will have to examine that venue's itinerary more closely next year). |
Reviewed by: David Cox |
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