Review of Drawn In at King’s Head Theatre #Festival46
On arrival the stage is set, we have a door and a blackboard. Minimal is okay though as it didn’t need anything else. There is a good use of light and sound during the play to differentiate between sections and highlight certain actions by the cast.
The metaphorical curtain rises to Man, James Callas Ball, lying on the floor of a room. Gradual movement begins until Man is upright and walking about. You get to see Man’s progression through events and realisation until he “creates” Woman, Hephzibah Roe. Eventually Man becomes domineering over Woman and you can see he likes the control he achieves. Woman however outsmarts Man with ease and she is the sole reason they manage to escape the room.
Ball and Roe both give great performances with an energy and vast array of movement that replaces the usual speech in a play. The facial expressions by both help to tell the story although you never truly know what is going on, where or why. The audience are left to fill in the blanks.
It is certainly something different to a usual play. You can tell there has been a lot of work put into it but that doesn’t mean it is going to be for everyone. Should you see it? I genuinely don’t know, some of you will love it and others won’t…
Review by Lee Cogger
A man wakes up in a room with a pen, a wall, and a set of instructions. Anything he draws on the wall comes into existence at the touch of a button.
‘Drawn In’ asks big questions; what happens when you create more than you can handle? What happens when you try to play god, and create life?
And how do you make friends with a piece of string?
A dystopian Penny Crayon about life, death, and what holds the key.
Speechless Theatre Company specialise in making original ‘plays with no words’ set in bizarre and vibrant worlds. Their work is an energetic blast of visual delight taking influence from clowning, mime and magic to leave you… speechless.
http://www.kingsheadtheatre.com/
