The Drowned Man
By: a Browned Off Man
Please, please, please don’t waste your time and money on
this dreadful ‘con’. If you’re
interested in dance then it might have something for you – stay in the Tavern
on the top floor and watch the show repeat at least a couple of times. Then just before the end make your way to ‘Studio
2’ for the dance finale.
This show is put on by ‘Punchdrunk’ productions in
association with the National Theatre. By
the end of the show you may be punchdrunk too.
They have hired out an ex-post office sorting warehouse just round the
corner from St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington.
There is a portentous story line that there are two different versions
of the Woyzeck (Georg Buchner) story going on.
As one enters it feels a little bit like the Tower of Terror in Disney
World, but unfortunately the excitement pretty well ends there in the lift
(elevator). The story is happening in
simultaneous vignettes in a number of rooms in this four storey warehouse. It’s mostly rather dark and one is compelled
to wear a mask. Hints are to follow a
cast member from scene to scene, but since there seem to be about 15 principal
cast members and at a rough guess some 600 to 900 admittees, you can
immediately work out that there is likely to be a minimum of 40 people trying
to rush along behind the actor up the narrow stairs and along the passages in
the dark to the next scenario. We paid
extra to be ‘premium’ guests which gained us entry to a control room which was
supposed to add light to the proceedings but didn’t. A pretty girl in the control room thrust a
note into my hand which suggested I make my way two floors up to the tavern,
and that I ‘come back and see me very soon’.
The tavern is the scene of the best set-piece dance in the show, and
fortunately we saw it twice.
Don’t expect any dialogue – there isn’t any. Another reviewer has questioned why this wasn’t
billed as a dance event.
In fairness, there have been a number of reviews posted on
sites such as Trip Advisor, and writers seem to be polarized one way or
another, but my view concurs with several others which use the phrase ‘Emperor’s
New Clothes’ to describe this event. If
this is Immersive Theatre, I’ve been fully immersed and I’ve had it up to here.
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