What must the neighbours think. Coachwerks is a project space housed in an old bus depot that crouches in one of the most suburban corners of Hollingbury. And throughout early May, curtain twitchers in the surrounding houses will be able to see a man in a dress singing Bonnie Tyler in a bath full of marbles in the front yard, and a half naked accordionist balancing on the roof. If they were to venture inside, they’d encounter even stranger sights and sounds – though on tonight’s evidence, they might not be tempted to return.
Three parts dance-theatre performance, two parts art installation and one part cookery demo (at the end of the night we’re invited to share pizzas fresh from the venue’s own wood-burning stove), A Ship Of Fools is the brainchild of Israeli Yael Karavan. Herself a gifted clown whose every arched eyebrow and flared nostril as the black pen mustachioed ‘Ceremony Of Masters’ is spot on, Yael has gathered together an international band of actors, dancers and musicians whose credentials and commitment are impressive.
But their collective transformation into a family of freaks (who variously climb the walls, babble in Franglais, pad about empty-eyed in pretty Edwardian dresses and, in one chronic case, sit in locked cupboards with sieves on their heads) is unconvincing and incomplete. And when the scattered experiences coalesce into a group show, but this group show turns out to consist largely of watching endless improvisatory games and trust-exercises…. patience starts to wane.
Coachwerks is one of Brighton’s most precious venues, and this cast are as warm and welcoming as the space smells and feels. And if you look hard for moments of comedy, beauty and visual poetry here, you will find them. But we couldn’t in all honesty recommend this under-devised and over-extended show to a Fringe-goer who didn’t have nine lives.
Coachwerks, until 9 May
2/5
Bella Todd
