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The Red Chair
The Door, Birmingham Rep
***** THE
Clod Ensemble are a ground breaking company, making theatre in the most
unusual of places, inspiring, through art, those who would not
ordinarily see theatre. Writer and performer
Sarah Cameron leads with a story full of imagination and child-like
wonder. With her immense talent of storytelling and characterisation,
The Red Chair
was a beautiful story of a man who got so fat that he and the chair
become one. This production is gloriously poetic and through
Cameron’s mastery of language and the spoken word, the audience were
transfixed on her traditional Scottish tale throughout all one hundred
minutes of the performance. Her script was almost Shakespearean, especially
with allusions to Greek mythology and animal imagery, which gave a
magical element to her innocent story. The fantastic play on words
weaved perfectly into songs and rhythmic beats. An impressive moment was
when she listed tonnes of foods that the fat man ate in a rhythmic list,
keeping us engaged with the beat and showing her skill of delivery. Cameron is a pied piper of words – constantly k Her one woman show is a testament to her
all-round talent. The story is created by her alone and Cameron plays
all of the characters – the man who constantly eats is immediately known
to us when she sits on the only piece of set, the chair, taking on the
role with a strong physicality of detailed structure, moving her arms
and miming to eat in a gluttonous and greedy manner. Her strong physicality make us connect to her
beautiful tale of myth and folklore. His wife runs around tending to his
every need and again Cameron’s strong physical persona is joyful to
watch. Their ‘iveesible’ child is seen when a single spotlight is
pointed towards her and a child-like voice is heard. Each character is
different, bonded by language and the power of Cameron’s poetry. Her physicality paired with a fabulous variety of
vocal deliverance and choral performance makes the poetic piece
constantly entertaining. Cameron needs no set, apart from a wooden chair
in the middle of a circle on the ground. She is the master of the
evening’s entertainment and what she tells us always sparks our
imagination. The extremely vivid story that Cameron describes
so well paints an individual picture in our head of the place and time.
Cameron immerses herself into the fat man’s world in every possible way.
In short ‘intervals’ we are offered refreshments of cakes, dates,
chocolate and whiskey. It is a highly creative way for the audience to
be involved in the story. The Red Chair is a beautiful tale and Cameron
does well to translate her Scottish roots into a wonderful figment of
her imagination. The piece is playful as it is entertaining. Cameron
gives a magical charm to each and every element of her loveable mythical
tale. It is accessible to anyone, and for lovers of poetry and language,
this is definitely a piece to admire. To 19-09-15 Elizabeth Halpin
17-09-15
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eeping
us transfixed with wonder to her story. She makes each character
incredibly visual and different and her physical and vocal skills give
an emotional connection to the wonders of her imagination.