The Vault Festival at The Old Vic Tunnels

The Vault Festival at The Old Vic Tunnels

14 February, 2012
by: Alexchappel

We send Alex Chappel burrowing into the Old Vic Tunnels to review some shows at The Vault Festival. 

Out of a choice of twenty or so performances and other goings-on, such as The Wonder Club and Silent Opera, the people at Spoonfed Towers have kindly hand-picked a trio of treats for me to check out at The Vault Festival, spread throughout the subterranean labyrinth that is the Old Vic Tunnels. And there I find some rather unusual, chin-stroking thought-provoking fun. 

Nabokov – Money in the Vault
Interactive standing-room-only dark circus-like theatre has enjoyed quite a bit of popularity of late, especially in odd, sprawling and atmospheric venues like the Old Vic Tunnels, in which the audience, not to mention the venue and its décor, is very much part of the supporting cast.

So imagine my shock when the first production, Money by Nabokov theatre group, is taking place in a room with chairs in it – my attention span being what it is these days, I prepare my matches for a bit of eyelid-propping later. However, this production turns out to be four short plays, of varying lengths, from 10 to 25 minutes a piece.

Ranging from a comedic spoofed-up radio play to a soliloquy, a musical duet to a violent three-hander with a twist, these are four very simply lit and well produced pieces – with a superb cast reading engaging scripts, despite the messages being at times a bit yawny (there are few things to say about money which haven’t already been said). Nevertheless Nabokov pull off a refreshing and entertaining hour and a bit of theatre.
 

Kindle Theatre – The Furies

At first I catch myself with a slightly curled upper lip as it appears we've entered a heavy metal gig masquerading as theatre, with guitars and drums on podiums banging out bars not out of place in Wembley stadium in the '80s. But as we settle in, there's an air of calm before we're treated to an amazing adaptation of the ancient story of Clytemnestra – a “woman’s loss, betrayal and bloody revenge”.

Presented through original music, vocal-scapes and stark imagery, Kindle’s ensemble fits perfectly in the dripping, dank and spidery ambience of this tunnel, complete with operatic silences broken only by the gentle rumble of trains above our heads. It kind of mesmerises me into some sort of hypnotic state. Being a stark and brutal expression of female wrath, this piece is meant to feel disconcerting for the male half of the audience, and, it is.
 

Videopia

So far so good as we continue to the bar to catch Videopia, which recreates scenes from classic movies by asking audience members to play the parts. They rehearse, film and screen it all on the same night. While I understand that this could work in a more intimate setting of a festival tent, this is not something a general audience could enjoy, and it's a bad choice to have this on late in the bar area on a Friday night. Perhaps they should have had some dancing instead, we thought, as we headed to a nearby Lower Marsh establishment which takes cards and serves nicer beer.
 

Silent Opera - La Boheme
La Boheme in the Old Vic Tunnels takes you on a sometimes real, sometimes cerebral, journey through the lives of its protagonists amongst a well-pitched, satirical and voluminous scenic world of beaten down shared flats, Christmas markets and club exteriors.

As a modern re-telling of Puccini’s opera it’s almost always on the button – but not enough to distract you from the story telling, with an outstanding Mimi (Emily Ward) finding an enormous range of comedy, tragedy and romance with a voice that switches from vulnerable to powerful with seamless effort. The believability of her relationships leaves a little to be desired, but it’s difficult to complain about a cast which leaves you mind-blown all the same.

The main problem with this particular format (the audience being shuffled from act to act wearing headphones) was its over-subscription, leaving some of the action, for me, unseen. But overly bemoaning this would leave no room for experiment, and the final shuffling act frames the similitude perfectly.

It depends what you want from opera. If you want a sea of blue-rinses getting lethargic in a grandiloquent arena of golds and deep reds to an Italian script you can’t understand, you’ve come to the wrong place. But if you want real, raw energy which speaks to you here and now whilst preserving the deep sensitivities opera does best, then you’re in for a treat.

Excellent Choice - Eye Saw Theatre
There's a cast of only two in this single-scene, multi-layered short play by Rob Hayes which sees Peter the wine shop owner and Samuel, his customer, through a series of plot twists and turns expressed neatly through efficient use of those handy ol' key ingredients: performance, sound, lighting and props. We’re taken on a trip through a classic 3-part narrative via comedy, intrigue, suspense and satire.

Ben Dilloway’s nervous and increasingly frustrated Samuel offers a well-balanced counterpoint to Jeff Rawle’s confident, provocative and somewhat whimsical Peter. The result is an enigmatic, and often laugh-out-loud, half-hour of entertainment.

With an imminent West End debut at the Trafalgar Studios in May, this is a nice lightweight introduction to writer Rob Hayes, whose acerbic but funny script seems to be perfectly matched with the sinister charisma of Jeff Rawle. Together they succeed in tackling everything from murder mystery to religion. Simple and entertaining as theatre (much like good wine) should be.




The Vault Festival runs at the Old Vic Tunnels until Sunday 26th February. 



First and second image by Joanna Steele. Final image by Alex Chappel.

Alexchappel