As I walked into the theatre... yes, I know what you’re thinking, it’s a horrible reviewer cliché but bear with me. As I was saying: as I walked into the theatre I was greeted by laughter. Are they laughing at me? At someone behind me? No, they’re laughing at the stage and the three ‘Bouffons’ on it, flirting with audience members, waving with their extravagantly long fingers, stroking their padded stomachs, touching themselves inappropriately...
That fabulous absurdity doesn’t ever really stop. Fat Git, famous for their contemporary eccentricity (don’t listen to me, their programme says as much) have put together a fantastic adaptation of Peter Mortimer’s novella of the same name, that only makes me want to go out and buy it. The story follows a character, wonderfully named ‘Me’, who finds another man, ‘Him’, in his house when he comes home from work. What follows is a long chase where police are called, Me runs around and then falls asleep, and Him wanders around cooking dinner.
Individual performances are great, if nothing to write home about. The strength really comes in the power of the performers when they work together onstage - the Bouffons running around Me and the police officers, for example - or the work of set and costume design that use Bedlam’s large stage to great effect. The band also creates an incredibly impressive underscore that maximises the power of every scene in an inventive, if not original, way.
It’s difficult to sum up a show like Uninvited - absurdism is not exactly prime target for simple summations - so I’ll return to my cliché. As I walked into the theatre I heard laughter, and as I walked out, I continued to hear it too. A wonderful little show from a theatre company that is definitely one to keep an eye on. See it, and see it now.
