Raised by Wolves by
Handspan Theatre
Victoria Dock Shed 14
until Oct 21, 1997
Reviewed by KH around 17 Oct, 1997
There is a moment
when we realise we have turned into our parents. Mine was during Raised by
Wolves when my uppermost thought was, "TURN DOWN THE MUSIC! MY EARS ARE
BLEEDING!"
Handspan and director David Bell have collaborated with popular
band Regurgitator in this project that is essentially a rave party plus some
visual theatre. There are a few extraordinary elements. The first is the
location in a disused shed at Victoria Dock under a full moon.
Inside, hordes of mainly very young people milled about
anticipating where the action might begin. Banks of video screens, coke
machines and scaffolding broke up the space. Shipping containers acted as
platforms for puppeteers, actors and the live band. Huge cherry-pickers decked
with fluorescent lights, prowled the space.
The walls are
chequered with more multi-coloured fluoro tubes which form the words
"LIVE' then later "DIE". At one end of the shed a huge demon
head with spinning eyes screamed at us. At the other, a flaming Picasso portrait
burned.
Ben Cobham's lighting design and the giant cockroach puppets
were the highlights. As spectacle, however, this performance misses the mark.
It draws on a style popular in Europe with La Fura del Baus (Spain) and
Titanick (Germany) but, whereas these companies draw together disparate images,
text and sound to create a cohesive whole, Raised by Wolves is dissonant and
chaotic.
Any dialogue that remains audible over the ear-smashing
noise level is unintelligible or puerile. Actors Lee Russell, Megan Cameron and
Justin Ratcliffe, wander about aimlessly, wrapped in plastic, attacked by
cockroaches or as post-holocaust derelicts.
’
The curtains and metal screens could have created some
interesting snatches of physical imagery but without context, content or
thematic links, the whole deteriorates into hysterical ravings, meaningless
wanderings and NOISE.
The very young in the crowd seemed to enjoy the dancing and
the unpredictability of the piece so perhaps it is a matter of taste or of age.
It is a pity because Handspan has done some spectacular work over the years.ˆ
KATE HERBERT
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