ACOrN: A Crunch or None: 4 star review by Becca Topping

By Becca Topping
|
25th Aug 2015
|
★★★★

This show is nuts… if you’ll pardon the pun. Firstly, the aesthetic is phenomenal. I was speechless when I walked to the fluorescent, magical world created. Secondly, it is so weird and wonderful that there isn’t a soul who won’t enjoy it. Writer and Director Bruno Cooke is a wordsmith. With the help of Toby Jones and a wonderful cast, he has created a show that is not to be missed.

This captivating show is definitely one not to be missed.

The idea is one that toys with metatheatricality and a video game. For the simple-minded like myself, Sonic the Hedgehog meets Beckett with a bit of 80’s pop visual thrown in. What more could you ask for? Among the difficult plot is something pleasantly simple to follow.

The play is at times confusing and I found myself drifting off, listening to the sounds of the actors rather than taking in what they were saying, but this is definitely not a bad thing. I enjoyed listening to the long strings of nice-sounding words, fitted together by excellent performers; I was often brought back to the scene when something hilarious or odd happened. The big laughs are generally surrounding Amanda Hohenberg’s performance: she manages to capture the audience and hold them with her timid but massively funny lines. The other three performers are equally as talented. I do not know how they kept their energy up, but by the end of the performance I was mightily impressed with their commitment and passion for the performance.

Emily Howarth manages to keep the performance on its toes as she brings the intensity up and down at the perfect moments. Livvy Lynch is a dream to watch, as she keeps a level of decorum and calm, while Liam Murphy switches between humorous deliverance and dulcet tones with his spot on accents, physicality and general presence.

This captivating show is definitely one not to be missed. Don’t expect to understand it all, but don’t enter wanting to understand it all either, because you will miss the fun and joy of watching something that tears you away from comfort but, at the same time, makes you want to sit still and watch for hours.

Reviews by Becca Topping

theSpace @ Venue45

ACOrN: A Crunch or None

★★★★

theSpace @ Venue45

A Fistful of Hunny

★★★★★

theSpace @ Venue45

D.I.M.

★★★★

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Performances

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The Blurb

Lorraine, Esbe and David have reached ACOrN, the penultimate level of a simulation game designed to test their performing abilities. After 44 attempts, they are wilting and exploding. They have rehearsed a thousand plays, and flit madly between them in order to appease the Master. They have jumped from Aristotelian narrative to Brechtian balderdash, searched inside Beckett’s bum and found nothing. In search of a new plane, they’ll dance – frenetic and frenzied – over a world full feta to find something better. Will they see daylight again? Come, humour their metatheatrical nutshell volcano.