“It’s a wonder we survive.” So runs the appropriate refrain in this eyebrow-raising, all-American show featuring screeching hand puppets, folk music, and a glib compère. The play opens with Circus Girl’s joyful seduction of Sleeper, yet the lovers become miserable when they find themselves responsible for a hoard of demanding children (puppets). When the overwhelmed Sleeper abandons the family home, a crazed Circus Girl disposes of the brats. There are funny moments, and an impressive array of musical instruments are featured; however, the play has the lurid aspect of a depressing theme – the cycle of life which impels one to parentage and then death – treated in a crass, mocking style. Physical theatre at its gaudiest.
Gryphon Venues at The Point Hotel, 5 – 27 Aug (not 14, 21), 1.30pm (2.20pm), £6.00 – £8.00, fpp256.
tw rating 2/5
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Sections: by Lauren Kelly - ED2011 Theatre Reviews - tw rating 2/5 | Tags: Gryphon Venues, Outcast Café Theatrix
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