Borges And I

Their flyer is designed like a book which unfolds into a poster. Their poster design features a shower of letters. Their set is constructed out of books, words, pages, paper. Borges would have loved it.Jorge Luis Borges, the Argentine writer whose imagination and fascination with books inspired many readers, writers and bibliophiles around the world is the central focus of this play. Around it fit situations all linked to a book club. Two members fall in love, events in one member’s life mirror events in Borges’. Libraries and librarians feature and words are spun out vocally, colliding with words in print … seen, sculpted, imagined, envisioned.Idle Motion, the Oxford-based physical theatre company behind this production are to be commended for their dedicated, insightful, inspired and joyful approach, which made the play a delight to behold. They weave together a Lecoq-influenced theatrical approach with contemporary dance and some very inventive lighting effects and a magical use of set. Particularly effective are the ways in which books are used metaphorically as stepping stones or pathways for the imagination throughout, sometimes revealing, often supporting, always enhancing the action.Where this production fell short of excellence was in the danced sections, where the demanding slow passages were executed with love and great attention to detail. While the choreography appeared deceptively undemanding, it was challenging, and the actors, who are to be commended for pushing themselves here, lacked the physical strength to make the action transcendental. The rest of the show was so good, they raised the bar of expectation … it’s a real shame this technical aspect let them down. Nevertheless, I, for one, emerged inspired, and would love to see them explore work in this vein further – I wonder what they would do with a dramatisation of Canadian author Thomas Wharton’s work, which is inspired by Borges, but takes it much further. Whatever Idle Motion are, they’re definitely not idle. They’re inspired, energetic, committed and professional. Definitely a company to keep an eye on.