one4review | On 23, Aug 2016

Eden

Today I empathised with a bin bag. There’s a sentence I never expected to type, but for the 40 minutes of Less Theatre’s production I was in turn, surprised, charmed, concerned about, and ultimately terribly sad about a black bin bag that the two skilled puppeteers managed to imbue with real personality and pathos.

The bag in washed up on some rocks. He takes its first faltering steps and becomes aware of the world around him. He picks a flower which makes it sneeze and he throws it away. He tries and fails to retrieve it but cannot reach it. A bird, whose chick he has helped earlier, gets the flower for him but , exhausted and broken the bag ‘expires’.

This slight tale, which includes moments of laughter, is beautifully executed using only found objects – the birds are made from old milk cartons whilst the flowers are deconstructed egg boxes. The cliffs are cardboard boxes and the fish are pan scourers.

I had gone to see this thinking it was a children’s show but, us aside, the audience comprised entirely of adults. However my children (aged 4) sat completely rapt throughout the show and are still talking about the ‘plastic bag man’. This is a show that could delight any age. Well worth seeing.

By Karen
Eden
Less Theatre
theSpace@Surgeons Hall
Daily 11.05