Saturday 24 September 2011

Pond, by Grit Theatre, Sep 23, 2011



Pond, by Grit Theatre **
Warehouse, Fringe Hub, Sep 23 until Oct 9, 2011

 The premise for Grit Theatre’s short performance piece, Pond, has potential, but this uneasy marriage of acting and dance still looks like a developmental workshop rather than a finished performance.

A man (Thomas Browne) and a woman (Laura Hughes) inhabit a living space cluttered with unsteady piles of computer monitors, laptops, electrical leads, stereos, microwaves, a bed and numerous unlikely house plants.

They live parallel lives, constantly absorbed in their laptops, headphones or meaningless domestic tasks. Their dysfunctional relationship is disconnected and mostly silent, apart from intermittent emotionless comments, questions or grunts.

When the electrical power fails in their apartment, they scramble to reconnect to their online worlds, only to rediscover each other and their former passion.

This sounds interesting, but the execution of these ideas is unclear, incomplete, intentionally slow-moving and sometimes bewildering. Browne and Hughes’ occasional, inserted, movement-based vignettes are more compelling than their long scenes of inactivity and silence.

Their deadpan performances and the obsession with the minutiae of daily life certainly resonate with the disconnected world of modern relationships, but the performers appear to be warm props in this production rather than part of a narrative.
Star rating:**

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