Bone Yard Tales

Even the brief hour of sunshine could not lift my spirits during this street performance. The location was irrelevant, the staging disappointing and I sensed that the audience was unengaged. Three strangely dressed actors wheeled around, two more atop piles of scrap, as they recited the most dismally unpoetic tale of collecting rubbish. It should have been more poignant given the current refuse collectors strike, but it was not. The entire affair was rather lame, the scrap set scrappy, the script at times garbled and the accompanying soundscape of sax and drums simply uninspired and the eventual appearance of a puppet monster lacked any real excitement or drama. Maybe our expectations for such works has been elevated by previous street events, mine have for sure, but this one certainly did not make the grade.

Trafalgar Street Arches, 11 May 2013
Rating:
Andrew Kay