You know what its like when you arrive in a strange place, and have to ask for help in a foreign language? The only person around is someone who looks strange, unfamiliar, different someone youd never talk to in a million years back home but you need help, so you ask for it, and find yourself on the adventure youve always been looking for, but which you thought would never ever happen? This production depicts that journey and much more.It is a beautiful depiction of a serendipitous connection made on a train platform platform 88 between two women. One, played by Chantal Mailhac, is entangled in issues. She seems to live on the platform, twists dreams into being from twine and sings a Lebanese lullaby. The other, a traveller, played by Janaina Tupan is stranded on the platform. Her stiff, aloof, distant demeanour subtly transforms over the course of the hour-long show. And inevitably, her transformation has its effect on Mailhacs character. There is a beautiful integration of movement and narrative in this production, directed by Sebastien Loesener. The sculpted proportions he creates from the theatrical space in the way he positions the characters have a strong sense of sacred geometry to them. The company members are all graduates of Etienne Decrouxs International School of Corporeal Mime and the style of the show, which is a mixture of mime, physical theatre and simple contemporary dance, reflects their training. Their backgrounds are all different and the internationalism of the company is strongly reflected in the production values, which have a universal quality.The subtleties of the visual and textual metaphors used are heart-warming. From the telephone cord which connects the characters to the outside world, to the string which binds them to each other, creating a network which starts off isolating the characters, then providing them with a means of communication, from which point they are able to break free.
