Offstage was devised by Ephemeral Ensemble, their name refers to something that lasts for a very short time. However, this contemporary performance will be etched in my memory for a very long time.
On the surface, this appeared to be a light-hearted, happy-go-lucky children’s piece of theatre. Until, the funny and out-of-place swear words and disquieting darkness came creeping in. Onstage, the performers hid behind their characters as Harley and Pedro – children’s entertainers. Offstage, behind the curtain, a backstage weighted with heaviness, loneliness, and joylessness. The two performers help each other every night to get through their show. This performance amalgamated impassioned physical theatre, playful set pieces and toy props, with atmospheric new music to investigate mental health and suicide.
Sometimes you watch something and you know a theatre company has fallen into a bit of a trap, doing something predictable which has been done before. That did not happen at all tonight. I couldn’t have foreknown the performance would be like how it was. It was a completely fresh look at mental health through performance. Approaching it from the angle of children’s theatre but for teenagers and adults. It was a like subtly sinister fairy-tale. Pushing theatre into innovative and exciting places at the same time.
There was one particular theatrical moment which I can’t stop playing back in my mind because it was super, clever and impacting. One performer wore a train costume while the other watched it go past. It was all innocent and gentle, until a familiar audio track played totally changing the tone of the scene unexpectedly. It was a train announcer saying: “The train at platform 2 does not stop here, please stand well away from the edge of platform 2”. Your heart goes into your mouth as you remember how there are far too many suicides every year caused by people jumping in front of trains. I didn’t see it coming and that’s what made it so chilling and memorable.
Another scene cross-examined the best and worst ways to communicate with people suffering from mental health. The striking physical theatre choreography highlighted ideas of resistance and struggle to poignant and heartfelt effect. Intelligently, they played on the stage within a stage idea: mostly they broke the fourth wall but occasionally they screened themselves behind this secondary fourth wall. Shutting out the world; distancing and isolating themselves. If you dig a little deeper, the chosen form of children’s theatre could be an indirect indication that the educating of people, children especially, about mental health and challenging the surrounding stigma is perhaps the best solution going forward into the future.
In summary: Offstage is a smart, metaphorical, beautiful, intense, informative, and innovative piece of contemporary theatre. Exploring the subject of suicide through a delicate balance between darkness and light.
Reviewer - Sam Lowe
on - 15/3/19
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