Two of my favourite things are Les Enfants Terribles and Theatre of the Absurd. One of my least favourite things is incongruous capitalisation in the middle of sentences but hey ho. Working on the well-worn framework established by Beckett, Stoppard, Pinter and Havel, The Infant follows the story of the two interrogators Vladimir and Estragon, no, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, no, Samedi and Castogan, as they trace the source of a disturbing drawing which has some hidden terrorism or something. But who could have drawn such a picture? I’ll give you a clue – the answer is in the name.The show is built upon a very strong script, with Writer/Director Oliver Lansley (not to be confused with that greedy Andrew Lansley) drawing on quickfire dialogue and callback humour characteristic of early Stoppard to create a fast-moving and thoroughly enjoyable hour from four people and two rooms. Some clever staging helps convey the professionalism of a highly intelligent company further, with hundreds of tiny lights on dimmers illuminating the dank cells in which Lilly and Cooper (parents of our mysterious four year old) are held.Les Enfants Terrible have gone out on a limb with this production, as it is far removed from their other work, and for the most part they are successful. Antony Spargo and Martyn Dempsey are excellent as the madcap interrogators. Spargo brings an excellent energy and control to Samedi and is electrifying to watch. Dempsey acts as the perfect foil, his stiff ex-army manner perfectly juxtaposed with a penchant for Mills and Boon novels, and tea with heaps of sugar. The relative strength of these performances outweigh the attempted naturalism of Lilly and Cooper however, who fall short in creating sufficient pathos with the audience and leave the piece feeling slightly unbalanced.A lengthy digression into the evils of smoking creates a strong allegory for the institutional right-wing pacifism that brought about the ‘shock and awe’ tactics of the war in Afghanistan, and reminds the audience there is more at work in this piece than simple black comedy. Aside from some unnecessarily lengthy scene changes (a little more trust in the willing suspension of disbelief could have been more useful here - as anyone who has seen The Prestige knows), this was an enjoyable hour of fringe theatre from an excellent emerging company. Highly recommended.
