FLOATING
The Pit, London EC2
Opened 19 June, 2007
****
At its simplest the core element of theatre, the factor that makes
every performance unique and special, is that audience and performers
have come together in the same space and time and left the rest of the
world outside. Except, of course, that we can't truly do that: we all
have our own respective baggages, and make our own connections and
disconnections, decisions and choices simply in the process of watching
a work. It might seem odd to create a performance piece about this relationship. It is
certainly bizarre to do so by employing a story about the alleged
occasion in 1982 when the island of Anglesey broke free from its wonted
position north-west of Wales and floated around the north Atlantic all
but unnoticed while the world was watching the Falkland Islands instead.
Hoipolloi's delightful, touching assemblage was the very last show I
saw on last year's Edinburgh Fringe, regretting that I could not then
give it the glowing write-up it deserved. It is a truism that much work
which seems outstanding in an Edinburgh context founders when re-viewed
with a cooler head elsewhere; I am overjoyed that this is not the case
with Floating. The company
have found the perfect frontman for their whimsical, slightly
sentimental perspective in performance artist Hugh Hughes (who is in
fact an alter ego of artistic director Shôn Dale-Jones); Hughes
says this show has been 13 years in the making, which is as long as
Hoipolloi have been in existence.
With the aid of Sioned Rowlands (who may or may not be a similar
invention – it doesn't matter) and a range of media from flipchart to
PowerPoint presentation, from video projection to a hand-held slide
viewer passed round the audience, Hughes builds an amazing bond with us
as he tells his tale. He works the room with the skill of a top-flight
comedian, but utterly without malice. We feel an integral part of an
unrepeatable moment, as we join Hughes and Anglesey on their journeys
and contemplate those we have made ourselves. One of the rarest
sensations in a theatre is the feeling that one has made real friends
with a performer.
Written for the Financial
Times.
Copyright © Ian Shuttleworth; all rights
reserved.
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