The crew of Café Obaasan had placed its set in a pretty garden nook of Christ Church, in between some scaffolding and some big old trees. It started to rain during the last ten or fifteen minutes of the show, and I don't know whether the rain played a part in curtailing it to 47 minutes.
I can't say it was a successful or magnificent piece of participatory, 'forum' or experimental theatre, exactly. But somehow I did enjoy it. My main impression of Café Obaasan was what the French might call 'du théâtre tiré par les cheveux' - lit. a series of appealing and even moving dramatic effects dragged into being somewhat forcefully, by the hair.
That said, the things they were 'dragging' into the laps of the assembled audience members - seated at strange half-laid tables - were ambitious, and the four women in the ensemble in particular were extremely talented in what they did. The Obaasan family comes only partly into view, but scenes that erupt imaginatively, surreal and hysterical, out of the mix, are engaging and well devised. One moment, we are all being enjoined to stand up and dance because the 'witch' (Madame Obaasan) is dead. The next, we are served cupcakes and a series of make-believe drinks by a gyrating trio of slightly monstrous creatures.
Caricatures of Japanese, Italian, and Russian-Jewish personalities bubble up for comic effect, out of the blue, and not entirely unproblematically. The Obaasan daughter, Fae, is persecuted by a split triad of motherhood - six hands punitively mauling her head and hair - before masquerading as that mother herself, to frighten the staff.
Neither my companion or I walked away feeling we understood what the project of the Café actually was. But I do not dismiss it. A preview of the production (including a majority of the actors I saw perform at Christ Church) can be viewed on YouTube. The video captures nothing of the atmosphere on the green lawn, however.
I can't say it was a successful or magnificent piece of participatory, 'forum' or experimental theatre, exactly. But somehow I did enjoy it. My main impression of Café Obaasan was what the French might call 'du théâtre tiré par les cheveux' - lit. a series of appealing and even moving dramatic effects dragged into being somewhat forcefully, by the hair.
That said, the things they were 'dragging' into the laps of the assembled audience members - seated at strange half-laid tables - were ambitious, and the four women in the ensemble in particular were extremely talented in what they did. The Obaasan family comes only partly into view, but scenes that erupt imaginatively, surreal and hysterical, out of the mix, are engaging and well devised. One moment, we are all being enjoined to stand up and dance because the 'witch' (Madame Obaasan) is dead. The next, we are served cupcakes and a series of make-believe drinks by a gyrating trio of slightly monstrous creatures.
Caricatures of Japanese, Italian, and Russian-Jewish personalities bubble up for comic effect, out of the blue, and not entirely unproblematically. The Obaasan daughter, Fae, is persecuted by a split triad of motherhood - six hands punitively mauling her head and hair - before masquerading as that mother herself, to frighten the staff.
Neither my companion or I walked away feeling we understood what the project of the Café actually was. But I do not dismiss it. A preview of the production (including a majority of the actors I saw perform at Christ Church) can be viewed on YouTube. The video captures nothing of the atmosphere on the green lawn, however.