Duck, Duck, Goose

So after a break from my general avid play consumption I have returned to the table and the first offering was "Duck Duck Goose". Those who are unsure of the details can read Gordon's post above. Having read the article in Xpress which described the multitude of woes which seem to have followed this production since its conception, it is a wonder at all that it came to full term and as such I heartily commend the artists involved on their baby. It is not however the healthiest bouncing bundle of joy in the world. Indeed it suffers a number of near terminal ailments. There were some beautiful crass one liners early on which disappeared as we came closer to the end in favour of what can only described as poetic wank. There were a number of interesting ideas that were raised and just as quickly forgotten about and none were explored to their full potential. It was rather like a waiter wafting food past you, lingering near the table just long enough for you to get excited about the meal to come and then to have him take it away again If you want to talk broadly about the themes of "duck duck goose" it seems that the creators of the piece were not sure whether they wanted to do a coming of age/leaving the nest drama or a gay fantasia on the theme of unrequited homosexuality. The direction at times was wonderfully tight as the actors came together in one unified chorus but at times was increadibly sloppy. Towards the end of the piece the staylised physicality which began the play seemed to be left by the wayside, like a child that has gotten bored of a toy. Indeed there was no Arc of any kind to the play, ideas, concepts and devices used in the beginning had been thrown away by the end. It was mentioned to me that this may be because of the woes the production had experienced. Yet surely a 50 minute play that experienced its rocky start six weeks before it went up could surely figure it out? The performances for the most part were fairly solid. Sarah Rueben as Heather had a tendancy to shout her lines which meant they lost alot of impact. I will mention at this juncture that I had to suspend my disbelief down a very dark and long tunnel to actually believe the actions of the characters let alone the events that take place. I put that down to clunky exposition rather than bad acting though. All in all it wasn't the worst thing i've seen and it wasn't the best thing i've seen. It strikes me as being the recalcitrant child of parents who couldn't give a damn. But isn't that true of the theatre scene in general? Until next time, Garreth