It has often been said of Harold Pinter that the silences are as important as the dialogue (as someone who has dried on a West End stage let me tell you silence is not all it is cracked up to be) so in Light the darkness plays an important role. This is a mimed show – but that doesn’t do justice to its complexity so I’m going to call it ‘Performance Art’ – in which the turning on and off of various sorts of torches and strip lights with timed perfection is key to the success of this highly original work.
Set in the familiar dystopian world of 1984 and Fahrenheit 451, of mind control and rebel groups, the cast all in black boiler suits, director and writer, George Mann, goes one ratchet further in imagining complete surveillance – even of one’s thoughts. The plot which will also be familiar, concerns an agent of state control, Agent Dearden, who is sent to bring in the rebel leader who had invented the technology of mind reading and originally sanctioned its widespread use as being beneficial to mankind by bringing us together. Of course it wouldn’t be Dystopia if all the technology was hunky dory and she (for it is a ‘she’) rebels, taking herself off to the Wastelands when it goes pear-shaped and Mr Nasty (Father) uses it for his diabolical ends. There are twists in the story which ends with the kind of revelations we find in a Greek tragedy.
The depictions of mind control, chases, torture, operations to remove implants, fights and all the rest is mimed with consummate skill by a talented cast, but it is the use of the lights which lifts this show into a category of its own. I can’t remember when I last concentrated so hard to follow a plot, not because it was difficult (though it was), but because I was drawn into the story by the total belief of the mime artists. There were a small number of LED supertitles to help us along and at time it was like watching a silent movie. With such feats as changing the perspective of the audience the director seems to say anything a film can do we can do on stage. For that reason this is a show, which extends the possibilities of live performance and should particularly recommend its self to directors and writers alike. The average theatregoer will just be agog at the invention.
Special mention must go to Chris Bartholomew’s sound design – or more properly his score, which was taut, energetic and atmospheric making up in no small part for the absence of dialogue. Also Matthew Leventhall as ‘lighting consultant’ needs a mention for his important contribution.
This darkly pessimistic view of the future becomes less fanciful as technology advances and this thrilling work is a timely reminder that we must all be on our guard. ★★★★☆ Graham Wyles 13/02/15
Photos by Alex Brenner
