Reviewed by: Stage Whispers
Review by Mark Wickett | 23 February 2024
The performance is in the round, with a screen on each wall showing images of Christopher Orchard’s oil paintings and charcoal drawings. The bald-headed man is a recurring motif in Orchard’s work, and this performance, written and directed by Russell Fewster, brings them to life as bland businessmen having an existentialist crisis. There’s quality lighting design from Nic Mollison; simple but effective animation from James Calvert that transforms Orchard’s art into something more dynamic – and this pairs well with the performers, who act with these images as a backdrop, or mirror the art live on stage. Yet the narrative feels like a dream in the way that the distinct events don’t quite connect. That’s not to say there must be a traditional narrative structure – it’s necessary we aren’t spoon-fed everything – but without some kind of payoff that would give the piece more context, it ultimately leaves too much unanswered.