Vicky Sparrow reviews a helter skelter take on the disorienting power of our perceptions of danger in Shunt's new show The Architects.
Infamous for making bizarre theatrical extravaganzas, Shunt are back with The Architects, a big, ballsy, boat-based show that leaves you thrilled, reeling, and possibly a little confused.
Once through a disorientating makeshift maze, the main performance space is a striking black and white maritime-looking hall complete with portholes, sea-view and moving horizon. The set enhanced by deep rumbling sounds is so effective and one half expects the whole building to start rolling.
Soon a brilliantly executed cabaret of hilarious cruise-based entertainments, anecdotes and misadventures ensues; the audience is cast as passengers and the Shunt team give impressively slick and engaging performances as the increasingly frazzled Danish crew. Initially hedonistic video projections become more sinister as the audience is compelled to evacuate the ‘ship’: cue really dark and distressing promenade scenes.
The show itself works around the premise that any situation can be manipulated into being, given a correctly designed space. It is also an exploration of the dark power that unspecific, diffused danger can have on the psyche. Although Shunt try to pack in a bit too much theory (the Minotaur references don’t help the piece cohere) the show is, at its best, a disturbing consideration of the human will to power play that left me unsettled but horribly fascinated.
The Architects runs at The Biscuit Factory until 2nd February 2013.
Image: Hannah Ringham, Nigel Barrett, Heather Uprichard, Gemma Brockis by photographer Susanne Dietz
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