PUNISHMENT | STAGE REVIEW
Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff, Thurs 27 Nov
Punishment is a physical theatre piece that sees its characters wielding kitchen knives and showering their small stage in beer.
On the upper level of Chapter Arts, the audience are presented with four anti-heroes, each more depraved than the last.
Together they push out their chests, smirking, while an offstage female voice lists their criminal offences which range from petty theft to sexual assault. Minutes later they contest their innocence, pleading that they are merely ‘victims of circumstance.’
After every story had been told, the idea of ‘biological deviance’ is suggested; the theory of being born as a less evolved human, a slave to their primitive urges. This point however, never comes to fruition and it is unclear why such a strong counter argument is mentioned when we are constantly told that these men all had abhorrent upbringings.
With the extreme range in music (electronic, wailing voice and French guitar) and several speeches, all of which were translated from English, Polish, Spanish to Belgium the one hour piece became somewhat convoluted. Many ideas are presented but few are explored leaving little time for the audience to form their own opinions. The actual idea of punishment is only addressed briefly when we learn the criminals all go on to commit worse crimes after their experiences in jail.
The movement was often ritualistic, with little form and had the potential to be extremely visceral which would have been fitting for the ‘animal-like’ characters (performed with impressive physical stamina as well as great emotional range). However less interesting sequences which seemed more like sign language were chosen to be repeated and brought down the energy of the pace. Overall a lot happened but this piece felt as though it was still in its development stages.
words SINNEAD ALI
