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Heads Will Roll
Birmingham Rep Door
***** THE fresh and dynamic Told by an Idiot are a
fascinating company, championing playful devised theatre, with
creativity always at their heart. Paul Hunter is the Co-Founder and Artistic
director of the company and since 1993; audiences have been welcomed to
a reflection of his colourful and hilarious world with a talent for
storytelling and character building. With previous shows at
the REP such as My Perfect Mind
and Never Try This at Home,
Hunter and his company are no strangers to the Birmingham audience. In
Heads Will Roll
the audience become distinguished guests to a Spanish primary school and
are invited to see their exploration of El Dorado. Hunter describes this
performance as ‘an experiment’. To the creative mind, it is a show that
expresses extravagance and the lengths we will go to attain our goals
and desires. In practice, the audience see three subplots unfold into
one crazy performance. It is a show full of laughs about a fictional
story of a golden man disappearing into a lake, the BBC television show
entitled Eldorado
in the 1990s and the hunt for the city in Mediaeval Spain. Hunter places a creative responsibility on his
performers in order for the play to grow and Alicia Martel, Andrea
Pelaez, Merce Ribot and Patricia Rodriguez are experts at giving grand
and somewhat over the top performances, yet they are still totally
believable.
All are fabulous performers who can be watched
all night. Hailing from Spain and Columbia, the ladies blend together a
perfect mix of culture and history to create their unique world.
Speaking in English with Spanish ad-libs, the audience instantly feel a
connection to the real performers, which gives playful and creative
warmth. Each scene is a short burst of energy that
transports us from one subplot to the other. The performance is managed
chaos that all comes together in the end with a happy and joyful finale.
Transitions are stamped with live musical interludes, sung beautifully
with great comic timing from the cast. Michael Vale’s wondrous design of
set and costume ignites the audience’s imagination at every turn. There
is a backdrop of a child’s picture drawing at the back against a
platform, which is used for scene changes and emerging surprises. With three subplots that magically evolve
together by swift transitions and wonderful commitment from the four
actors, an entertaining exploration to a mythical world is seen. Told by an Idiot have a fantastic way of bringing
out the best of a child-like nature and play that we so often crave for
in adulthood. With imagination at the heart of each scene, anything is
possible. The most inanimate object is used as a prop of great
significance, such as a carrot or a piece of paper. Sound effects are a
fantastic edition to the setting of scenes and they are used to clearly
mark out their desired picture. Alicia Martel is fabulous on piano, as
well as giving a hilarious musical background with incredibly funny
lyrics to suit the flamboyant and crazy scenes. We never know what is coming at any moment with
Told by an Idiot. They are incredibly innovative and are a celebration
of great creative theatre. To 16-11-16 Elizabeth Halpin 02-11-16
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