Slevin passes with flying colours
Lynn Freeman17/02/2010 11:08:00 a.m.
The Immortals, directed by Geoff Pinfield, Pit Bar, Bats Theatre, reviewed by Lynn Freeman
WHETHER or not he is what he claims to be, immortal, Martin Amis’ character is far seeing and his pessimism well founded, based on human history.
Theatre doesn’t get more in your face than this production, given you can only squeeze 22 people into the performance space and the actor moves around a lot.
People passing by look in, puzzled. They mirror the expression on the audience’s faces at times, as this man (performed by Dan Slevin) skips around history and takes us into a future that seems all too likely. Amis’ book on which this 40 minute soliloquy came out in the late 1980s, but given the current talk about climate change, it could have been written yesterday.
The Pit Bar is tricky space, Slevin has no choice but to eyeball his audience, even climb over them. It’s a test and one he passes with flying colours. Other than a few nerves resulting in a very few stumbles, you wouldn’t know it’s been 20 years since he last trod the boards.
WHETHER or not he is what he claims to be, immortal, Martin Amis’ character is far seeing and his pessimism well founded, based on human history.
Theatre doesn’t get more in your face than this production, given you can only squeeze 22 people into the performance space and the actor moves around a lot.
People passing by look in, puzzled. They mirror the expression on the audience’s faces at times, as this man (performed by Dan Slevin) skips around history and takes us into a future that seems all too likely. Amis’ book on which this 40 minute soliloquy came out in the late 1980s, but given the current talk about climate change, it could have been written yesterday.
The Pit Bar is tricky space, Slevin has no choice but to eyeball his audience, even climb over them. It’s a test and one he passes with flying colours. Other than a few nerves resulting in a very few stumbles, you wouldn’t know it’s been 20 years since he last trod the boards.
