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We Are Not Cakes

 
Jen Payne Review by Jen Payne 2 Published: 3 Sep 2014 Camden People's Theatre Show Dates: 22 Aug 2014-24 Aug 2014

We Are Not Cakes claims to be inspired by the Oberiu Avant-Garde Movement, but the result is a content-less hour which never manages to create the kind of absurdist magic to which it aspires.

We Are Not Cakes manages to be neither entertaining nor interesting.

I can’t really tell you what goes on because nothing really does; there a few stories of the ‘once there was an old woman’ type which you think might join up and become a subversive morality tale, but they don’t. There’s a bit of nice puppetry work, some attempted rock & roll guitar, some terrorizing of the audience’s front row, lots of shouting and running around, and an aggressive strip-tease which ends with a rather impressive Worm.

The production looks good though, with well-designed costumes and the obligatory creepy clown-face. Little moments where the characters remove themselves to the side of stage, pontificate, take a shot and then shoot themselves are atmospherically lit with simple red lamps. The aforementioned puppets are beautiful, but it’s all a bit style over substance.

One of the characters muses “Today I wrote nothing. It doesn’t matter.” Well, it kind of does when you’re charging people £12.50 to see it. It’s a shame given the obvious respect these guys have for their absurdist forebears, but We Are Not Cakes manages to be neither entertaining nor interesting. 

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The Blurb:

We are not Cakes is a devised piece inspired by a collection of short stories, poems and texts from Russia’s early 20th Century Avant Garde movement: the Oberiu. A flight into the surreal, the show is full of absurdist vignettes with a blend of live music, spoken word, puppetry, movement and burlesque.