September 9, 2007
Devised theatre has its advantages and drawbacks. When done well it allows the performers to riff on a theme without the constraints of script, but still provides the structure necessary to communicate ideas. When done poorly it invites the linking of weak material because it is vaguely relevant to the central theme or underlying motif. Eat Me, performed by (and presumably devised by some or all of) Phill Dunning, Mark Esaias and Ellie Harrison, fell predominantly into the ‘done poorly’ category.
There were elements of humour and wry observation throughout, but not enough to sustain what felt more and more like a piece of self-indulgent improvisation as the performance progressed. The only apparent theme was desire, linked to chocolate and finding a partner; used as hooks for some audience interaction – giving away chocolate and reading to members of the audience.
A promising opening section – a debate, punctured to cause frustration in one speaker, which was overtaken by an increasingly demonstrative transvestite dance – moved too slowly into the description of a night at a luxurious hotel (based on a chocolate advert). The transition was slowed by the dressing of one performer by another – to indicate disability, childishness? I wasn’t sure. It provided a hiatus to hand out chocolate (always a good thing), but nothing else. The description of the hotel showed some good comic timing, with lines being set up and dropped well, but was too long and seemed to be more for the amusement of the performers than the audience.
The letters to possible partners seemed like further in-jokes, as did the scene involving Ellie being laced into a basque while being fed chocolate mousse. I can see the combination of lingerie/bondage/chocolate as satisfying desire, but it just didn’t seem to be going anywhere. All three performers have clear comic talent, but need to find a better platform from which to display it.
The new BT seating is very comfortable on the backside, but was jammed so close together that it was near-impossible to keep ones backside on the seat, and I feel that £10 for barely 40 minutes of devised theatre is a little steep, given the wealth of excellent theatre that the BT has presented over the past few years for the same price, or cheaper.
There were elements of humour and wry observation throughout, but not enough to sustain what felt more and more like a piece of self-indulgent improvisation as the performance progressed. The only apparent theme was desire, linked to chocolate and finding a partner; used as hooks for some audience interaction – giving away chocolate and reading to members of the audience.
A promising opening section – a debate, punctured to cause frustration in one speaker, which was overtaken by an increasingly demonstrative transvestite dance – moved too slowly into the description of a night at a luxurious hotel (based on a chocolate advert). The transition was slowed by the dressing of one performer by another – to indicate disability, childishness? I wasn’t sure. It provided a hiatus to hand out chocolate (always a good thing), but nothing else. The description of the hotel showed some good comic timing, with lines being set up and dropped well, but was too long and seemed to be more for the amusement of the performers than the audience.
The letters to possible partners seemed like further in-jokes, as did the scene involving Ellie being laced into a basque while being fed chocolate mousse. I can see the combination of lingerie/bondage/chocolate as satisfying desire, but it just didn’t seem to be going anywhere. All three performers have clear comic talent, but need to find a better platform from which to display it.
The new BT seating is very comfortable on the backside, but was jammed so close together that it was near-impossible to keep ones backside on the seat, and I feel that £10 for barely 40 minutes of devised theatre is a little steep, given the wealth of excellent theatre that the BT has presented over the past few years for the same price, or cheaper.