Bullet Catch

A story to charm and peppered with magic, quite literally in this instance – writer, director and performer Rob Drummond’s tale of an ill-fated bullet catch some 100 years ago was engaging and deftly enthralling. The story of the audience member called upon to participate in the Victorian tragedy formed the framework for this piece, challenging ideas of free will, the importance of belief, and personal responsibility, lightly relayed by Drummond as he himself took an audience member as co-star for the night. This could have been any one of us, and as such it was every one of us. We all felt the peril as the show moved steadily towards the finale, and even as we may have second guessed the ‘trick’ the danger and frightened excitement was palpable with the few shrill and nervous laughs that bubbled over. Yes, some of the loosely scattered magic in the main body of the piece rang familiar, but this was the staging of a theatrical piece in which we were all rapt participants. Casually compelling, Drummond held us throughout, prompting plenty of thought during and after the show.

Speigeltent, 16 May 2013

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