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ED2015 4/5 Reviews ED2015 Theatre Reviews
The Empire Builders (Theatre Hayal Perdesi – Turkey)
By Patrick Galbraith | Published on Thursday 13 August 2015
Our pasts are inescapable; they consume us. That is what I took from Theatre Hayal Perdesi’s frightening production of Boris Vian’s 1959 absurdist drama. The Dupont family live in a nondescript tower block and are always moving, forever followed by “the noise”. In each new apartment the same bandaged, nightmarish girl lies on the floor and is mercilessly beaten, whilst her existence is denied to the Dupont child. The brilliantly choreographed performance of the grotesque, writhing figure and the menacing, deranged masculinity of the father are enthralling. This production was one of indefinable excellence, characterised by paranoid energy and nonsense. Though I’m not sure I entirely understood ‘The Empire Builders’, I haven’t stopped trying to since I left.
C, until 18 Aug.
tw rating 4/5 | [Patrick Galbraith]
