Here's the first of what should be many more reviews!
Shunt Lounge
Thursday night, Max, Sascha and I went down to London Bridge where the unmarked entrance for the
Shunt Lounge is located. Shunt is a performance space as literally as that can be taken. Occupying the now-out-of-use train tunnels connected to the London Bridge Underground (tube) and Overground (above ground train) station, you are free to roam about as you please, through the tunnels: some are left empty, some have art installations, others stages (either figuratively or literally) where performances of all kinds take place throughout the night. There is a bar, a DJ and some areas for both dancing and seating, some stages are more traditional and obvious than others. Quite a few people from Max's program were there as well, though it wasn't the best atmosphere for meeting new people and have conversations, as it was quite loud in many places and when it wasn't there was a performance...that, and some of the folks seemed quite interested in drinking.
The creators of Shunt are graduates of Central (Max's school) and the curator is participating with Max's program as a weekly speaker right now. It is a curated space, with all of the acts changing weekly. Some of what we saw:
- aerials with hoops or bars (suspended from rope from the ceiling).
- French back rides (a guy dressed as a Frenchman would give you a backride, usually running, throughout the space for free).
- a guy doing beat-boxing type vocals that were expressive/synched with his body movements and such throughout one of the tunnel spaces.
- a piece that took place over an hour or two, with 4 characters at sea filming in a small box set up as a submarine or ship with a window so you could see them though the camera was projecting it live in multiple locations against the wall so you could follow their dramatic excursion from wherever you were (audio was going over the speakers that are throughout the space, though competing with the music from the DJ), including a run-in with a Spanish mermaid, some passionate dancing, and the death of the captain.
- a puppet show piece, that was done with three people, one acting as the marionette, another the woman 'controlling' her and the third a man helping the marionette break free.
- two performances by
The Paper Cinema, including "King Pest" by Edgar Allen Poe. This was by far our favorite. It was incredibly well done, the amount of planning, story-boarding, drawing and practicing had to be immense. Pretty much, they have created drawings, some simple, others large and very intricate, to relate the entire story with only music (being performed/created live) to help narrate. They have a camera set up between the two 'actors' with a black wall only a foot or two away. They manipulate the hundreds of black and white drawings, cut out and put on sticks, in front of the lens of the camera, all the while watching the screen where it is being projected and which the audience is watching as well. It sounds so simple, but it was one of the most moving theatrical performances I have seen in a really long time. It was incredibly touching and the characters were drawn in such a way that you really connected to them and empathized, even without human actors or spoken word. Both performances were so touching and passionate, nearly everyone in the facility came and crammed into one tunnel for over half and hour to watch in silence.
- a ticketed piece (we arrived early to get tickets as it is a one-on-one performance so not very many during the course of the night) that we all liked, for different reasons, and to varying degrees. Max and I liked it more than Sascha, though she admits that the jet lag may have had an effect on that. With your ticket, you arrived to a small 'waiting room' area near the main entrance where two young women (in character) took your ticket, filled out a booking with your information, gave you a ticket that was much like a luggage tag on your wrist, and prepared mint tea while you waited. Next, you were taken into a dark room where music was playing and when they shut the door behind you, a young man flipped on a table lamp and you saw you were in a very small, but comfortable, homey and cluttered room (bookshelves, cloth, odds and ends filling the place up) where he asked you to take a seat opposite him at a table. He talked very quickly and was always fumbling with things in his hands, whether a ball, a nut, whatever. There was a blackboard with things written on it in a list and he asked you to chose one to hear about. I chose Black Holes; so I heard the description of black holes and theories about our universe, etc. explained, very quickly, with a few objects incorporated for metaphors. After the theory lesson, you are asked if there is anything you want to talk about, a lesson you want to teach. Then, you are asked to turn around and make a move on the chess game already under way, after your move, he makes one as well. Lastly, you are asked if you want to change the record that's playing (though I left it as it was with Led Zeppelin). You are taken out of the room from a different exit (as if there were space for multiple exists), where you leave your tea in an otherwise very empty part of the space and then taken around the corner where you get to look through a peep hole to see the scene recreated with the person who had signed up for the slot after you (in my case, Max). After you watch the other person go through the same scene, with different decisions of course, that you just went through, you are taken around another corner back to the waiting room where you write down any thoughts in another book, much like one you'd have at a wedding or other event for people to write in. It was wonderfully done and the whole experience of having this special appointment, secret meeting and then secret observation worked to, simultaneously, build your feeling of privilege or specialness to be part of something secret and knowing that it isn't unique or special or secret. It was fun but also really serious feeling, the way a very secret experience is.
The current season is over in November but we are hoping to go again before then. Next time you're in London, we'll take you!
'Paperweight' at The Camden People's Theatre
Rating: 3 Thumbs Up
After winning at the Fringe Festival recently in Edinburgh,
Paperweight is running at the
Camden People's Theatre. One of the developers and actors is a Central grad (notice a theme?) so we were able to get discounted tickets for the Saturday night show. The theatre is really close, well, it
is in Camden so I guess that's obvious. The performance sounds a bit reminiscent of The Office TV show or even Office Space the movie. We were assuming we'd see some of that same drama and comedy but were pleasantly surprised to find instead a very real and very emotional exploration of the relationships, games, and ultimately the decisions that revolve around two people in otherwise-dead-end office jobs. It was funny, silly, sad, and charged. Even had some nudity! We were happy to see the piece move beyond the jokes and humors already explored in the tv shows and movies about cubicle lands. We were also surprised at the level of emotions and story line conveyed to the audience with a noticeably limited amount of dialogue between the two performers. There was a lot of conversation that took place in interaction, not talking, that seemed natural and not forced - probably because we can all relate so well to the situation.
We are definitely keeping our eye on the theatre for more shows and watching for other pieces put together by the Paperweight team.
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