Grit tells the tale of Amy, a girl whose father has recently died in the Middle-East whilst photographing the conflicts. As Amy searches through the remnants of her relationship with her father we experience snippets of their lives, whether it be a boy that her father met on his journeys, or Amy’s childhood memories of playing with toy soldiers.
The most important thing to say about this play is that it is gorgeous. From the opening sequence using overhead projection (which is potentially the best thing in the show) to the puppetry in the finale, everything is created with exceptional skill and remarkable beauty. The three cast members pull out all the stops to create something sensational out of a very stripped back set and list of props.
However, it is also a show that continually makes one think ‘oh right, just like in that show. Although the use of a sandpit for a puppet beach fantasy was wonderfully inspired, the way the boy puppet follows the bunraku fashions of last year’s puppetry craze, and the use of overhead projection, torches and the like lead to a reliance on the pre-established, instead of the unconventional and zany, although it always does it well.It is a show that seems to beautifully recreate ideas and concepts from other productions to tell a new story, which should not necessarily be something to condemn, if only the show seemed to have a strong structure. Sometimes it seems the desire to explore current mediums of theatre gets in the way of actually creating a thorough piece of theatre, and instead loosely connected vignettes try and tell a father and daughter’s stories and do not do anything of the sort at all, but instead show two people who seem to have no reason to care for one another, instead of just loving but distant relatives.
Grit deserves four stars because you should go see it. It is a great piece of theatre from some great performers and its a really enjoyable piece in so many ways. But this is a fascinating series of experiments for a work in progress, not a perfectly formed finished product.
