As I left Ben Moors new show, Not Everything is Significant, I was accosted by a fellow audience member who noticed my I thought carefully concealed press pass. Did you understand that?, she said, as if thinking that by my orange lanyard I had the key to some higher critical vision.
I thought for a moment, trying to think of a clever, possibly witty and ultimately enlightening gem of wisdom, gently caressing my laminated critical authority as if trying to summon up its insightful power. Yes, I finally said, struggling to continue the sentence which I had begun, then, Also no.
Floundering, my mind racing, trying to imbue my initial three words with something resembling weight, I was grateful for the interjection of someone else who had seen the show. Thats the point, I think, she helpfully added, coming to my rescue on a white steed, that Not Everything is Significant. Yes, I said, thats it, before wandering off to reposition my tail from between my legs.
The title of the show is Not Everything is Significant yet even then we are desperate to have clarity and find definitions in order to satisfy ourselves that we understand; that we have the capacity to get it. But in doing so we might attach meanings to things that arent necessarily there when, perhaps, we should allow ourselves to let it mean what it means to us, subjectively, rather than try to ascertain what it should mean to us all. Perhaps it means nothing. Perhaps it means something. Perhaps its significant. Perhaps its irrelevant. We should decide for ourselves.
I first saw Ben Moor at the Latitude Festival doing Robin Inces Book Club and was struck by his balletic and eccentric poetry, his vivid imaginations and the sincerity of his storytelling. Whilst Not Everything he says is Significant this is no aspersion Im casting for a great amount of it is and I, personally, will certainly remember many of his sentiments and their beautifully drawn images.
In the show he receives a pre-completed diary in the post for the year to come, cataloguing things which he is yet to do. After initial hesitance he follows the path laid out for him, finding significance where there might possibly not be any and discounting other moments where there might be some. The point appears to be that, as the shows title suggests, significance can be imbued in anything and we will all add weight to different things.
Subsequently, this may appear a vague review but it is intentionally so as I am reluctant to impose my own meaning upon the show. What I will say is that Moors engaging delivery, brilliantly vivid way with words and apparently generous nature means that he is worth a visit. See him and find the significance for yourself.
