It's really great. Really, superbly great.
The piece is essentially a series of pop songs with a (relatively) diverse cast of amateurs and professionals. It has been touring for ten years and casts are brought together in each country the work tours to. You might know about half the cast.
The Show Must Go On begins with a 'DJ' playing a song from a stack of CDs while there is complete blackout. When this first song finishes, the lights don't come up but you hear the CD being changed. Quite a few people left at this point. I think they decided the entire thing was going to be pop music in blackout. I imagine these people have very little sense of hope. It made me feel a bit sad for them. Quite a few people left throughout the show after that, too. By that stage alliances had been formed and the leavers were laughed out by a very united audience, clearly bonded by some inside joke the leavers had not cottoned on to.
Basically the performers gave a literal illustration of the songs' lyrics. With very basic movement. Very basic. Very. Very. Very. Very basic. Forcing you to listen to the lyrics. But also to really watch the performers. Probably more intently than if they were full-on dancing. (I wouldn't call this a dance piece. I think if you go expecting a 'dance' piece you will be disappointed. Although maybe this is the point. But I think it's more enjoyable if you don't set yourself up for this. Again, maybe that's not the point -- to 'enjoy' it, I mean. I'm not sure.) I've heard most of the songs multiple times and I'm pretty shit at listening properly to lyrics. I really did listen to the lyrics in the songs tonight though.
I laughed a lot of the way through. Ha-ha-haaa. The audience got pretty rowdy. People conversed the whole way through. And looked around at each other lots. It was nice to really see the people you were sitting in the theatre with. But there were moments I found truly poignant too. There was a section where they wandered around the stage, eventually (with the chorus) finding another performer to embrace. They weren't just following direction here, in my opinion. They held each other is such a way that almost brought me to tears. A 'ballerina' section is also extremely and eerily beautiful. I don't think anyone in the cast is a ballet dancer (although a couple are perhaps trained in some ballet technique).
This is one of the only shows I've ever been to where the entire theatre felt like a performance space. I often struggle with how distanced I feel from the designated 'stage' and the performers in larger theatres. Tonight I felt very connected to all the audience. This work is a great people watching opportunity. Man I love people watching. I do. The audience are watching the performers and the performers are watching the audience and the audience are watching the performers watch the audience watch the performers.
I'm just going to make a disclaimer here. I would absolutely recommend going to see it (it's on at Mercury theatre (off K Rd) at 7:30pm the next two nights (18th/19th March)), but you may hate it. I hope you don't. If you walk out, you won't be the first. You might be laughed at.
Awesome review Natalie.
ReplyDelete