The Weepers - Skutr

Last night I went to see The Weepers by Skutr, a young Czech physical theatre company at Bristol Old Vic.

I went on my own, which is always an interesting experience, to be surrounded by groups of theatre goers and to enter without company.

After the doors opened I headed in with the queue to find the auditorium empty and instead a line of people walking up and onto the stage. The space had been opened out with the audience sat at the back of the stage facing into the auditorium. The sense of scale and space created by this is incredible, the atmosphere already heightened with audience members seeming to enjoy the experience of being on stage and getting a performers perspective. On stage is a table and chairs, and a man, barechested, sits watching the audience enter.

I sat on the back row on a high red chair. After the front of house manager runs around for a while he gives the OK and there's a shout of "Curtain coming in" and the fire screen drops into place, shutting the auditorium out and closing us in on the stage. The audience oohs and with this the man stands and bends down front of stage to light a 'fire'.

I enjoyed the opening of the show. The poetic text spoken by the man who becomes an old gentlemen, using mime and suggestion to create place, the moments of humour, the silence.

The middle of the show is now a bit of a blur. Not many moments jumped out at me and I felt I wanted more physicality, more movement. A lot of the playing bored me, I felt as if the company were just having fun with each other with very little innovative staging. However, I believed in the characters, they were portrayed well and with strength. I also enjoyed the singing. In my opinion the music throughout the piece was excellent. It really helped to set the mood and build or flatten energy.

The ending of the show is what I will take away with me. After the dynamics of the piece the characters crouch around the space reciting a 'poem' which echoes the start. I found this moment particularly beautiful. After the text the performers moved to sit on chairs around the table, as they had in the beginning. The 'old man' put on a hat and then went to his 'record player' where he put on his final record. The fire screen lifted revealing the empty auditorium. He continued to make the scratching sound of the needle and no 'music' started as he walked off stage, down the aisle, up the steps and stood, looking back at us before closing the doors.

I really enjoy pieces which come full circle, which end pretty much as they start. I love the feeling of being taken on a journey and then left at the end...because we've sat for an hour or more and not really gone anywhere and it is theatre after all. I also enjoy the feeling of being left to come to my own conclusion, spat out even into the 'real' world after being taken on an experience.

Looking at photographs of other shows by Skutr makes me want to see more from this company. I really like their aesthetic, their costumes and set, the layering, the props they use.

Photographs from SKUTR Theatre Group on facebook.


Elements from this performance which will influence my work:

• Timing - use of pauses for comic effect, brilliant sense of timing throughout heightens humour
• Sound - soundtrack, use of voice
• Text - poetic, creating place
  
• Simplicity - simple movement, each level (sound, light, movement, relationships etc.) built to create the overall effect