THE ONE MAN SHOW
Late-night high-tech
deconstruction with Jaffa Cakes +++==
So post-modern it hurts, The One Man Show is a piece of theatre about watching a piece of theatre.
It has a mysterious start, a set of emotional states, a philosophical moment
where we cough and eat sweets, a cheesy musical interlude and a point when we
clap. It even has an interval in which actor Nigel Barrett hands out cherries,
Jaffa Cakes and Babybels.
Created by Barrett and Louise
Mari of cult London company Shunt Lounge, and playing to a rowdy and
appreciative late-night audience, the show picks apart the conventions of
actorly pretence and lays them bare in a high-tech theatrical cabaret. In
Fringe terms, it is done with impressive technical flair with its
multiple-screens, projections, captions, extreme lighting states and abrasive
soundscapes. Barrett is a strong enough actor not to get lost amid the
cacophony, holding us with his controlled, ironic performance.
It's impressive stuff, but
the emptiness at its heart means it doesn't get beyond the navel-gazing to turn
the tables on the audience in the way John Clancy's similarly deconstructed
*3The Event*2 did a couple of years ago. (Mark Fisher)
C, 0845 260 1234, Until
29 Aug (not 15), 12am, £8.50–£9.50 (£7.50–£8.50).
© Mark Fisher 2011
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