London.
PROJECT COLONY
by Hamish MacDougall and James Yeatman.
Trinity Buoy Wharf 64 Orchard Place E14 0JY To 27 April 2013.
Tues-Sun 7.30 pm Mat Sat 3 pm.
Runs 2 hr One interval.
TICKETS:020 7478 0170/
http://www.fourthmonkey.co.uk/
Review: Francis Grin 11 April.
Fourth Monkey takes us on a trip we won’t forget .
It’s definitely not your usual trip to the theatre. Fourth Monkey’s site-specific Project Colony might make you feel you’ve left the country for awhile.Arriving at Trinity Buoy Wharf, the audience are greeted by a few actors who offer to take them to the ‘party’. They are then escorted along the wharf, an isolated industrial area with a lighthouse, some warehouses and a diner that looks like it belongs to another era. On the way to the main building, the actors continue to ask ‘what’s London’s like’, and looking around, you almost might believe them as they tell you that we are now at ‘the colony’.
A highly immersive piece of theatre Project Colony, inspired by Franz Kafka’s In the Penal Colony – takes it’s audience to the ‘Penal Colony’, an isolated island with a culture specializing in punishment. No-one slips from the mark and children grow up with scars along their arms, marking their past sins. The production is split in two acts: a party in a large warehouse and a shorter play introducing the Island’s latest death machine (staged in the basement of another building).
Designers Vicki Stevenson and James Gardiner create an impressive set. The main warehouse resonates of tacky high-school balls and teenage awkwardness – with overdose of party balloons and round, sterile tables. The stage is slightly too far from the main room, tucked in the corner, and everything about the place is stale celebration – trying hard, but just not reaching. Something isn’t right and the atmosphere eerily captures this.
We go from exploring the strange dynamics of this seemingly innocent party (where the highlights include a trivia competition and songs by the young bands) to the violent introduction of the Island’s new death device. As a stranger enters the party, fresh off the boat from London, she questions whether London is any better than this world. We are forced to examine the disturbing similarities between this world and our own.
Although the production at times lacks cohesiveness, it is thoroughly immersive and an absolute ‘must see’ for anyone interested in experimental theatre which pushes the boundaries.
Ensemble: Ella Dunlop, Sara Barison, Cameron Moore, Jess Webber, Olivia Negrean, Maui Piekarczyk, Faye Christall, Hannah Hutchinson, Jordan Capelli, Daisy Adams, Hannah Murray, Alex Sherwood, Amy MacGinley, Kathy Moore, Elliot Sofizade, Beth Smith, Lucy Brewster, Hannah Nicholas, Khyle Sayer, Alexandra Berridge-Schuter, Euan Forsyth, Daniel Mariot-cox, Rosa Caines, Dora Jejey, Catherine Kolubayev, Monica-Holly Robinson, Rakhee Sharma, Liam Steward-George, Fia Oxenham, Jodie Stinchcombe, Robert Thorpe-woods, Vicky Holburt, Zoe Zach, Jessica Brindle, Sarah Heracleous, Hannah Prior, Brendan Ryan, Tuula Costello, Natasha Kaeda, Abbey Gorton, Simon Holton, Lara Greenfield, Lauren Young, Joseph Trevitt, Racheal Leah-Stock, Grace Parry.
Directors: Hamish MacDougall, James Yeatman
Designer/Costume: Vicki Stevenson, James Gardiner.
Lighting: Pablo Fernandez-Baz.
Sound: Jamie Flockton, Harry Barker.
Movement: Angela Gasparetto.
Choreographer: Charleen Qwaye.
2013-04-12 01:33:14
