The Theatre dash!

This never usually happens but I actually managed to get out on a Wednesday night! Yay! I knew that Scott Swinton who performs as the MC in Mr President was in a show at Central Saint Martins Platform Theatre for the students of BA Performance: design and practice.  Scott had told me about the wonderful facilities in the theatre and I was keen to support him and check out Saint Martins.   Luckily, things worked out over timings with childcare so I was able to make my escape into central London. 

Since this was such a rare occurrence I decided to try and fit two shows in. Yvette was on at 9pm at Camden People's Theatre so given that Scott's performance was in the first of four shows at 7.30pm, so as long as I left by 8.30pm it should be enough time to get to Warren Street station and get to the theatre before 9pm.

Phrases to be Used Upon... 

Scott was part of a piece entitled Phrases to be Used Upon...  It was written, directed and designed by Anne Elmholt and Nina Kunzendorf.  The show describes itself in the programme as "an episodic tableau exploring the fragmented observations of human nature we come across in daily life and how we respond and react to these.......This play deals with the trivial aspects of life that we usually want to conceal from our surroundings: humiliation, loneliness, boredom, fear and miscommunication."

I loved the surreal aspects of this piece and particularly the way the sound and voice were deconstructed so that the performers were miming their lines while another performer in the background did the speaking at a microphone.   The alienated voices created a distance between the body and voice in order to examine what a person says and what a person does and how they behave.

My favourite parts of the piece were the bodies placed in a tableau in the set as the audience arrived, the woman who was gargling with water on stage with the sound being exaggerated through it coming across the microphone and Scott sitting straight-faced at the table having just dropped his face into a cream pie. 

I am really wanting to know more about the rehearsal process and thoughts behind this work.  I will be writing more about this piece and blogging a conversation that I have with Scott on Saturday about the rehearsal process.

Yvette

---

I managed to get to Camden People's Theatre with time to spare for the 9pm performance.  It was lovely to be back there after our performance in Inauguration (now called Mr President) back in March.

Having just come from the extremely well equipped and designed Platform Theatre, I can't help but notice the contrasts between the facilities and comfort at the student theatre and the simplicity of this small theatre in Camden with its 23 years of history of supporting emerging artists.  There is something real and homely to me about the fact that when you sit and watch a performance here - you still hear traffic noise from the outside world. 

So I had been planning to see this show for a while.  It was in Edinburgh last year, won some awards and got amazing reviews.  The trailer gave a glimpse of strong writing coupled with a great performer.

Thankfully Yvette was worth all the dashing between stations and leaving the degree show early.  It lived up to all my expectations.  The talent of Urielle Klein-Mekongo is  pretty gobsmacking!  During the show she moves between several different characters with perfect ease and manages to give them all a unique voice while using physicality to show their differences. 

The structure of the writing allows for the emotions of the audience to be constantly changing.  Once you engage with an enjoyable scene it will be interrupted by a darker memory of trying to calm herself down after her trauma.

The use of spoken word and song makes the performance so emotional and it is all over in no time at all.  The last song is particularly poignant and shows off her remarkable vocal skills and leaving some of the audience in tears. 

Go see it if you can!

Remaining tour dates:
10th May 2018 - 12th May 2018 Shoreditch Town Hall, London Book Online
14th May 2018 - 16th May 2018 Battersea Arts Centre, London Book Online
17th May 2018 - 19th May 2018 The Albany, London Book Online
21st May 2018 - 23rd May 2018 Bush Theatre, London Book Online