Monday 29 October 2018

REVIEW: Bullish - HOME, Manchester



'Bullish', from Milk Presents, seeks to recast the myth of the Cretan Minotaur into an exploration of gender-identity in the modern world. Four performers (Krishna Istha, Cairo Nevitt, Lucy Jane Parkinson, and Amelia Stubberfield) portray Asterion (‘Starry One’), the Minotaur – ‘a bull, a sort of bull, bullish’ – who is part man and part bull, but who is also a daughter who wants to be a boy (the parallels between the figure of classical myth and modern day discussions around gender fluidity are clear from the start). The performers often don bull heads throughout the performance to reiterate the ‘otherness’ of Asterion. Asterion is trapped in a labyrinth which isn’t always a physical one – the feeling that you do not know who you really are, when you are trapped in a different gender, is like a labyrinth where the exit into liberation can seem to be impossible to find. Furthermore, Asterion is aware that Theseus is coming, and Theseus is to kill them, for ‘it is written’; another theme of the show is about the power of words and storytelling (as one of the sparkling lines of dialogue from Lucy J. Skilbeck’s script puts it: “Legend has more currency than gold”).

The production mixed together monologues, dialogues, and songs. Sometimes Asterion directly addresses the audience, sometimes the performers respond to one another’s words as Asterion’s thoughts. At other times, Stubberfield throws on a cardigan to portray Asterion’s mother, Pasiphae, whom Asterion has rowed with over her desire to be a boy. Pasiphae’s monologues are often reflective and poetic, particularly in the one where she reminisces about ‘that time’ when they were both happy on a day out and Stubberfield brings a gentle touch to her deliver which fits the character well. Following the row with Pasiphae, Asterion goes onto a bus to go to the doctors to follow-up on an appointment about gender reassignment surgery. The section on the bus saw Istha step beyond the fourth wall and into the audience, using the steps of the auditorium as the steps onto the top deck of the bus. Other people on the bus see the Minotaur and do not know how to react, much like the audience members Istha sat between! Istha really came to the fore when performing Phobos, the god of fear, who is recast as a frustrating receptionist at a GP’s surgery, encapsulating the nightmare of bureaucracy for those awaiting the appointment for the reassignment surgery.

Parkinson was a strong performer throughout (and had a superb singing voice) and shone in the role of Daedalus, the inventor, decked out in high-visibility jacket and goggles. In the original myths, Daedalus constructed the labyrinth with the Minotaur at its centre, in 'Bullish', Daedalus constructs a special skin for Asterion which makes her a man. Now, newly confident, and settling in to her new skin, Asterion goes to a club to engage in their new-found freedom and it is here that Theseus appears. Emerging from the audience, Theseus (played with aplomb by Adam Robertson) has ‘perfectly coiffured hair’ and is as big an Alpha-male as you can imagine, spouting humble-brag platitudes like an Apprentice contestant, or overpaid life-coach, Theseus has arguably the best song of the night: a disco-rock mash-up which only goes on to highlight his ‘toxic masculinity.’ Theseus wants to be the biggest man in the room and fights Asterion. It is during this section that Nevitt drives home the vulnerability of Asterion, who has only just been given the freedom he longed for, and who lashes out in anger against Theseus.

As 'Bullish' heads into its conclusion, it adds an element from the myth of Icarus (son of Daedalus), as Asterion realises that the exit from the labyrinth is up, towards the sky. As the performers describe Asterion’s ‘wings of wax’ starting to melt as they soar high into the sky, Stubberfield returns as Pasiphae, having followed the thread of Asterion’s clothes which was trapped in the door as Asterion slammed it on the way out. In a touching finale, Pasiphae admits that she now sees Asterion for who e wanted to be – as Stubberfield said “I see you,” a female voice from the audience echoed the words, and then another voice did, and another, and then a fourth echoed the phrase before four women came onto stage and stood next to the performers – they were very obviously the mothers of the performers and seeing them together onstage was a genuinely moving moment.

'Bullish' was an interesting mix of the mythological and the contemporary. Its mixture of styles helped the production move along and the performances were enjoyable. It did seem to meander slightly in places but regained a sense of focus with the arrival of Theseus and the poignant climax as the performers were joined onstage by their parents. 'Bullish' is a fascinating and ultimately moving piece of theatre.

Reviewer - Andrew Marsden 
on - 29/10/18

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