Kingdom is a ‘cinema-in-real-time event’ from Señor Serrano, a leading theatre company from Barcelona. The performance is the headliner for HOME’s 25th Viva! Spanish and Latin American Festival; a programme of film and theatre from across the Spanish- speaking world. Kingdom is the live multi-media performance many have tried to achieve and very few have.
This troupe of innovative auteurs have created an ambitious mix of live video recording, beautifully detailed scale models, video projection, green screen inserts and live music. The technical achievement of the live editing alone is pure magic. It began as a comedic, earnest, and mostly accurate, account of the rise of capitalism through the global commercialization of bananas and establishment of the United Fruit Company. While it does casually meander in and out of surreal tableaux and unexpected musical numbers, it holds fairly well to truth. Up to the point where it stops and we descend into King Kong themed chaos. And in the tradition of all brilliant, boundary pushing, anarchic theatre there is a sprinkling of satire and social commentary throughout. This performance is rightly described as an experience. The choreography of camera movement with scale models and actors is perfectly executed, well-paced and endlessly surprising in its innovation.
Señor Serrano have been producing theatre since 2006 and the experience is clear; there is a slick confidence to the anarchy and surrealism that could not come from nothing. I clearly recommend this piece very highly but I would also strongly recommend that when you do see it, you do your best to look everywhere at once. The stage is a hive of activity and while it is tempting to look solely at the large screen projections, don’t. You will miss so much if your eyes are not constantly moving around the stage.
I try to never copy the official synopsis into a review but on this occasion I can’t think of a more perfect summary and it delivers on everything promised: ‘…bananas, consumerism, punk rock, King Kong, confusion, expansion, coups d’état and very macho men in an endless party.’ One final note, the HOME website rightly gives a warning for strobe lighting. I would like to lend a strong voice to this warning; the final scene contains an extended and very intense sequence of strobe lighting projected from the full-size screen
Reviewer - Deanna Turnbull
on - 10/4/19
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