This is one of the best site-specific shows I’ve ever seen. It takes you ‘behind the scenes’ to the final hours before a wedding just where modern weddings tend to be – in a 4* hotel.
In six groups, you go to six bedrooms, each group in a different sequence. They belong to the groom, the bride & her bridesmaids, the best man, the bride’s mum, her grandparents with the final one the bridal suite for that night. In each a scene is played out with the actors ignoring your presence in the room to the point of bumping into you, or in my case falling on top of me!
People come and go, including a surreal maid listening to her iPod obsessed about leaving comments cards. Secrets, regrets, back stories all emerge and you get to know the characters intimately – at one point we were all in a bathroom watching the best man rehearse his speech in the mirror! I won’t say any more as it will surely return.
At the end all six groups are in the corridor and you see the comings and goings that have been taking place outside the rooms whilst you were in them. It’s cleverly written by Chloe Moss, faultlessly performed by a crack cast and it’s a logistical marvel, but its also very funny and occasionally deeply moving. You really do feel as if you’re peering into people’s lives.
Dante or Die and their directors Daphna Attias (who directs this) and Terry O’Donovan (the best man) are new to me but I’m locking on to them with my theatrical radar. Good to see the Almeida co-producing something like this too. More please!
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