PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Bedtime Solos

Bedtime Solos - Across the Pond Theatre Company
Old Red Lion Theatre, Angel

Is physical proximity enough? Or is it necessary for two people to know the innermost workings of each other's minds in order to have a fulfilling relationship? Bedtime Solos exposes the different worlds inhabited by two people who supposedly share a high level of intimacy, while two stiff single beds show the distance within their union.

Self-obsession and reticence reign as each of the partners tells themselves bedtime stories of their pasts. Jakob Holder – the play’s author - masterfully integrates and eeks out references to the banal but pervasive events that cloud their childhood memories. Even during sex, and 'the greatest feeling in the universe', the couple are still far away from one another; he caught up in the re-imagination of wetting himself, and she in the traumatic fantasy of brash but apparently loving sex behind a dumpster.

As each partner becomes more involved with their own elaborate emotional world, together they become more tangled up in mental tantrums and conundrums. They begin to expect the other to understand the vaguest of hints to something too deep within their psyche to be guessed at.

Holder is something special. The agility, honesty and originality of the thought processes the characters go through makes you wish this was something you had written. It is natural and unforced, yet fresh and unpredictable. The private notions that enter the head of a man trying to stave off orgasm - of a cat, of cats, of dead cats, of the smell of vomit, of poking smelly dead cats with a stick - makes this play absurd yet very real.

Intricate shadow play, unfalteringly absorbing performances from Heather Wilds and Scott Christie, and a uniquely poetic script make Bedtime Solos flow past in a sense of post-coital timelessness.

Helena S. Rampley
Photo: Christian Alegria

Bedtime Solos runs at the Old Red Lion until 26th September

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Stories for the Starlit Sky

Stories for the Starlit Sky - Daniel Kitson
Regents Park Open Air Theatre

While a production starting at midnight in the picturesque Regents Park Open Air Theatre may conjure images of a relaxed picnic enjoyed in the beautiful fairy-lit surrounding, this is theatre land, and there is a clear hierarchy. You see, when not setting the scene for the bearded comic genius, the Open Air Theatre is playing home to Hello Dolly! and, in a classic case of theatre self importance, we are told to wait by the roadside until the musical audience has drifted off into the night air.

This is a test of any true Daniel Kitson fan, but luckily we are a hardy stock. Armed with blankets and booze, the already exciting event is given an added level of intrigue as we are forced to wait, it’s as if we’re some sort of speakeasy, a community of fans who have secretly met up in the middle of the night away from the prying eyes of the law. And as we’re finally allowed entry and Kitson takes to the stage to tell his tale, our pilgrimage is rewarded.

The final episode in his set of three midnight readings, finds a father telling his son a story whilst the two share a cup of cocoa - a mise en abyme if you will – following a group of retired assassins retreating to the comforts of a rural village. The story is perfectly broken down into chapters with Gavin Osborne singing and playing guitar in the intervals.

The idea for this performance arose 4 years ago, and having seen Kitson perform Stories for the Wobbly Hearted at the Melbourne Comedy Festival it feels like a natural progression. The duo work succinctly together and allow you to totally suspend your disbelief. I can honestly say it was one of the most interesting and original pieces I have seen at the theatre for a very long time, I hope to see more of this sort. It shows how effective a story told simply can be, and showing there’s no need for music, costumes or unfounded pomposity.

Izzy O’Callaghan