| 01 September 2011
Difficult, unsparing, almost deliberately oblique, Drought and Rain delivers an hour and some of music and dance theatre that feels at least double that. As an exploration of the Vietnam War through the eyes of people that lived through it, it is undoubtedly flawed, failing to find much tension or even emotional connection to the conflict. However, it is not without its shining moments.
The imagery is exceptionally vivid, despite the monochrome palette. Almost every scene is visually stunning, and evokes the sense that one is watching an art exhibit come to life rather than a show. This is undercut somewhat by the length of each set piece – for long periods we simply sit, staring at people doing nothing other than making pretty pictures on stage, or bobbing back and forward gently. There is a sense that we could have whipped through the show in half the time, and been all the happier for it.
Perhaps I should have expected a certain lack of momentum – after all, the creator Ea Sola is known for her ‘Happenings’ in Paris, where she would stand still for seven hours in the middle of the city, silently protesting her lack of connection to the place she was forced to move to after the war. Drought and Rain reflects this sense of the power of stillness, but unfortunately here it doesn’t really work as a statement as it is used far too frequently to have any real effect.
Every so often, an honest moment shines through the pretension. The urgent showing of the photographs, presumably of dead loved ones, by the old women performing the piece. The loosening of hair and the violence that seems to follow. The song that sounds beautifully like synchronised crying, and more than that, the fascinating traditional music and songs of the Vietnamese people. Song of a Cycle was particularly moving, with its lyrics about a family searching for food amidst flood and famine.
Unfortunately, however, there was just too much padding to be excusable in a 70-minute show. At the end, a handful of people leapt up to give a standing ovation, hopefully to celebrate the hard work of the elderly ladies on stage. Many of the rest of us, however, were simply glad to get away.
Drought and Rain (recreation 2011), Kings Theatre, 1-3 Sept, 8.00pm
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
