Hayley Shillito and Laura Taylor spend the whole of this piece from Horizon Arts dressed in black and joined together by a piece of long elastic. After about five minutes I thought I was going to hate it. It felt like one of those sub-Beckett metaphorical pieces. Who are these people, why are they trapped here, whats that scary noise that punctuates each of the several scenes?
But it grew on me. The performers were terrific, and I genuinely wanted to know why they were so antagonistic, why they looked so similar and what they were so afraid of out there. Philip Stokes direction, particularly the million ways to use an elastic rope, was great. Unfortunately his script is a bit repetitive, and I felt the audience, every time there was a blackout and the loud scary noise towards the end, were thinking it might be the curtain call next it wouldnt be the first Edinburgh show Ive seen to end nonsensically.
But theres a change of gear in the last few beats, a sense of something huge about to happen and some genuinely truthful, emotionally deep acting. When it does end, its a fantastic coup de theatre, and I for one sat there going Oh, I see . Wow. I wanted to rewind to see how I could have missed the clues. Unfortunately, if I tell you much more about some of the beats that proceed this I would be giving away this ending.
So all in all, a strange thing to sum up. Its too long, repetitive, a bit irritating sometimes, but totally redeemed and explained in the last, moving, few seconds.
