**** We literally only see part of what goes on
Paul Murray and Karen Glossop have hit on a remarkable idea to present a slight but charming tale in a fresh perspective.
The tale itself concerns Pete and Stella, a couple of British holidaymakers who fall out and then separately undergo strange, sometimes touching experiences on an unspecified but probably Mediterranean island. But it's the presentation that's the key.
A couple of opaque white screens stretch across the stage. They are mounted on vertical rollers. In each scene, the audience are given a window to only part of the action: torso level when Pete hitches a lift, floor level when car mechanic Georgiou is accosted by the local vamp Maria, and so on. Scenes are interspersed with projected captions from a range of sources, from a car manual to a self-help book and a pregnancy testing kit.
On its own, the story is a charming but disposable mixture of poignancy and bizarrerie. Presented in this way, so that we literally see only part of the story at any one time, it becomes captivating.
Written for divento.com
Copyright © Ian Shuttleworth; all rights reserved.
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