Naima Khan reviews two of four the acts at The Print Room's bold Devil's Festival.
Fewer Emergencies
Directed by Dan Ayling
The most striking thing about Dan Ayling's production of Martin Crimp's Fewer Emergencies is how invested the characters are in telling certain stories. At what could be the remnants of a dinner party, they talk about the public facade of family life, a school massacre, and what happens to a child when he's physically locked away from the world outside.
Crimp's script itself focuses on the stories, what we know of the characters is minimal and Ayling certainly embraces this. They're affluent, they're distracted, they're liars, but where they came from and why they want to talk about these things doesn't need to be explained. It is, as Dan described it, an urgent play: the point is, they need to talk about these things; they can't not. What comes out is horrible and made all the more shocking because it's spoken about so frankly.
The intensity of the script is also amped up by Ayling's choice of movement. At one point, two of the characters stand behind one who is sitting, and deliver their lines ferociously, like two sides of his conscience. At other times, the characters pace up and down so that while they're talking quite plainly, their body language exudes fear and confusion. It's a brilliant way of highlighting Crimp's script and Ayling is keen to point out that in this play, Crimp doesn't waste a word.
But he does feel it necessary to add a lot with lighting, sound and a projection. Thankfully, for once it's an abstract projection that does what it's supposed to do. It brings the outside world into the play and creates an ominous mood. Towards the end, as the characters talk about children being shot, blots appear on a clean white square, they loom and get bigger, threatening to encroach upon the unspoilt world Crimp creates. But as the lighting begins to redden when there's talk of blood, I do feel like the same point is being made again, but less artfully.
The sound however, is cruelly discordant, horribly jarring and a perfect fit for this production. It springs to life at the scene changes and doesn't settle for highlighting the rest of the play; instead it makes a statement all of its own. It's brief and sharp and makes a nice contrast to the low, contemplative singing that features towards the end. The way Ayling has managed to make what could easily be a wordy half hour into something so sharp and absorbing is incredibly impressive.
Of The Things We Do Not See
By Petra Jean Phillipson
Equally impressive is Petra Jean Phillipson's sound installation that follows Fewer Emergencies. It sees theatregoers don white paper suits, and lie in a white tent filled with white pillows where we listen to low, reverberating tones set to different coloured lights.
I've never done anything like it before and find it completely bizarre, totally surreal and really relaxing. It makes a surprisingly good pairing for Fewer Emergencies even though it isn't theatre. It is, however, an example of a theatre embracing a different kind of artist and with it The Print Room are making a bold statement about the receptiveness of theatregoers. The audience reaction proves them right: after twenty-five minutes inside Of The Things We Do Not See, few people want to leave and as I stumble out over the pillows, many remain lying down.
The Devil's Festival runs at The Print Room until 2nd July.
Image by Terry Whitaker
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