Lexicon
*****
Thu 7 June, Cardiff Bay
A woman bent over an accordion on the floor, her strong shoulders heaving as she wills the music into the air, a deep lament rising up from her frame. Giddy schoolchildren swaying perilously over an unmanned classroom. Stylish gentlemen and lady puppets twirling weightless above our heads. A mantle-clad superhero acrobat defying the laws of gravity as he effortlessly prances up and down a pole.
One emerges from the big top much like one emerges from a reverie. Bursts of sound and movement leap back into mind after the fact like fragments of a dream suddenly resurfacing during a mid-morning coffee break. The succession of unlikely episodes blend into one another without any sense of cause and effect, yet with the same curious feeling they all come from the same mysterious place deep within our psyche.
There was certainly nothing standard about this circus performance. Every act went beyond the physical mastery of the acrobatic skill, revealing a powerful narrative undercurrent in which well-rounded characters emerged, even if for an instant. Even the ‘basic’ handstand act was transfigured into a Hunchback of Notre Dame, crossing the stage slowly and deliberately towards an ethereal Esmeralda figure in a distant corner of the audience (or did I just imagine her?).
Lexicon is NoFit State’s latest production, developed under veteran writer-director and performance creator Firenza Guidi. It is a very well-paced show and the will-they-won’t-they-tumble-to the-ground feats of dexterity were evenly balanced against the slower acts of visual poetry such as the umbrella-clad tightrope walker and the accompanying music became louder, softer, faster, or sweeter accordingly.
The performance had a distinctly Vaudevillesque flair with a hint of gypsy. The striking visuals were paired with live music, often played by the performers themselves. The language playfully thrown around was an entertaining medley of English, Italian bordering on dialect, and Minion-style nonsense, all of which contributed to the feeling of being in a place where the normal rules of waking adult life don’t apply.
Lexicon is an ageless joy. Better yet, it is an eternal 10-year-old’s birthday party with bunting and party hats and chocolate cake and all your favourite presents (but thankfully no clowns!). Let’s hope they pitch up again next year.
words Olga Rachello