Images ©John BaucherIf there has ever been a more whimsically beautiful show than Floating at this, or any other, 10 Days on the Island Festival, I will happily climb Mt Wellington and cast myself off the cliff face, devastated I could have missed anything even approaching this beguiling, affecting and hilarious offering.
Welshman Hugh Hughes (see, it’s funny already) began the creation of this show in 2004 for the theatre company Hoipolloi. Since then, Floating has won awards for excellence. And you can understand why.
As you enter The Playhouse, your imagination begins racing straight away. The house lights are up and the stage is a cornucopia of clutter. Props, costumes and equipment are everywhere. Maps, tables, chairs, lamps, walking sticks, fishing rods, inflatable globes, screens, projectors and … hang on a minute … is that an actor? – Yes, it is. The actors are on stage watching us, smiling widely while interacting subtly with us. And what smiles both of the performers have, as warm as a grandmother’s hug.
For the next forty minutes Hughes, with brilliant assistance from his associate/friend Sioned Rowlands, indulges in the kind of unscripted brilliance that engages and challenges our idea of what the actor-theatre-audience trilogy is and what it can and should be. Floating is always fun but it is also full of comic courage, covering the sort of unstructured, unchartered territory negotiated by the likes of Peter Cook & Dudley Moore, Barry Humphries and Robin Williams.
The simple story has the Welsh island of Anglesey suddenly and miraculously coming adrift from the bridge that attaches it to the UK. Hughes and Rowland then act out the island’s fanciful journey until the floating land mass eventually reconnects back with the mainland. Connection is a theme Hughes visits again and again. It defines the show overtly and covertly. He regularly produces a card from his pants pocket to share with us at intimate moments - CONNECTION.
Wrestling magazines, rock samples, a slide viewer and a tea towel are handed around, to be shared and experienced by the audience. Large screen projected quotes, swirling smoke and chest-beating music combine to add a depth of theatricality to separate the show from mere stand-up. You don’t ever know what is going to happen next and you don’t want to know, because it really is about being inside each delicious moment. Likewise, the structure and narrative within the show hardly matter. It is whimsy that counts for this pair, even down to posting themselves at the theatre exit to hand out badges and stamp our hands. We revel in our reawakened childishness.
There is only one sadness to come from the night. Because Floating is so good, so unique … you wonder if you will ever see something like it again in your life.
HoiPolloi in association with Hugh Hughes present
FLOATING
Created & Performed by Hugh Hughes and Sioned Rowlands
LAUNCESTON
Earl Arts Centre, 10 Earl Street
28 March at 2pm & 6pm & 29 March at 6pm
HOBART
Playhouse Theatre, 106 Bathurst Street
2 - 4 April at 8pm, 5 April at 6pm
Duration: 1hr 10mins (No interval)
Tickets: $30, Concession $20
Online Bookings: www.tendaysontheisland.com
READ ANOTHER REVIEW OF THIS SHOW»
Mark Cutler is a Hobart based writer/performer.
This review is part of arts@work’s Critical Acclaim program, designed to increase critical analysis of the arts.