An impossibly good experience in a mask?!

Now here's something you won't often see on these pages - a 'theatre review' and what's more a positive one at that.




Punchdrunk's The Masque of the Red Death ...


Ordinarily (despite being involved in the uber-embarrassing world of 'live art') I'd rather watch telly than go to the theatre. For some reason I find the whole experience really difficult - all that earnest acting & make-up and (in my case) unwilling suspension of disbelief.

Anyway after a long day of conference-style discussion around 'engaging the spectator' for public art the last thing I felt like doing on Saturday night was being engaged as a spectator myself. Imagine my horror when we arrived at BAC (with our friends Andrew & Tilly who'd generously bought us tickets despite my known antagonism towards theatre) and were give those white Venice/Horror style plastic 'Masques' to wear ... oh Lord, I thought how can this be anything but REALLY bad. All of my worst 'live art' audience experiences have started with being handed some sort of mask.

But as evidenced by this scary image of Mr & Mrs P&M at the end of the night not only was I forced into changing my mind but quite quickly I was even convinced that the masks were actually a brilliant device for disguising the ramshackle collection of enthusiasts that is a theatre audience (I still thought they were awful to actually wear though).

The 'promenade' style performance is apparently based on an Edgar Allan Poe story but I couldn't tell you a scrap of information about any kind of narrative despite being 'in' the performance for the best part of 3 hours. What's perhaps more surprising though is that I didn't really care, I was having such a great visual experience being inside the set (although it's more like an installation) that any regard for narrative soon evaporated. To try and get an idea of what it's think Mike Nelson meets that spooky house scene from 'Eyes Wide Shut' meets the best living history event you've ever been to, then throw in some more smoke machines and a film sound track!

At one point you find yourself back-stage of a small theatre/bar squeezed in with various characters coming on and off stage and changing, peeking round a door you can see from behind the stage out into a rowdy bar where some hour or so later I found myself (with some relief) having what was by then a much needed stiff drink. I spent ages watching from the top of a large stair case while various seemingly unconnected filmic scenes unfolded below me. Some annoying audience members did try to (literally) chase a narrative or character action but my reticence to get involved may have been why I was singled out for a 'one-to-one' theatre experience ... being locked in a room with one actress (and also when I eventually took off my blindfold I realised an actor too!) and getting kissed and soaked wasn't exactly what I had in mind at the start of the night. I found this all slightly amusing but I have to say it also left me a little shaken - cynical as I wanted to be about theatre participation I did feel slightly panicked by the lack of an obvious exit after this incident. Anyway, as I said, I did re-find Mr P&M at this point who as always knows where the bar is even when he's involved in a live improvisation.

Rather oddly it also reminded me of the absolute best bits of being at Kentwell (the Tudor re-creation of 'everyday' life I've taken part in & filmed). When we first came in and I was trying to orientate myself as I simply encountered various rooms and characters I felt like the punters I see at Kentwell as they come into the smoky bake house or the stink of the dairy and see people just going about their business. The difference being that at Kentwell the 21st century visitors stick out like ... well people in cheap summer shorts amongst well-dressed Tudors ... but here the masks did actually stop you being constantly visually distracted by the audience.

At the very end of the night we were cleverly shepherded into a huge space I can only assume is the more usual theatre area (God knows what normally happens in the other 20 odd rooms we went through) & the cast performed the nearest to a set piece of physical theatre we'd seen all night, just as the audience were about to applaud the lights came up a band started to play and the whole thing turned into a party as people (some reluctantly) removed their masks.

The final weird twist to the night came when I saw Mr big-hair-polarbear in the audience and then 5 minutes later he was playing on stage. I'd have ordinarily bought the ticket just to see him drumming. Apparently it's already sold out but if you can get a ticket go ... I'd even wear evening dress now.