Gareth's Culture and Travel Blog

I’m not sure I’ve ever been to a performance where the silence at the end was so profound and so uncomfortable. This audacious and original piece packs an extraordinary punch into its 70 minutes.

It starts as a conversation between three people. One asks a trigger question, unknown to the other two. On the night I went it was what would you do about the internet if you had the freedom to decide? In what then appears to be semi-improvised discussion, we explore how we react in the modern world to what’s happening elsewhere, in particular the refugee crisis and terrorism. The three become more passionate as the wine flows. Their differing attitudes to the news footage we’re inundated with are revealed.

The conversation is videoed by two camera operators and projected onto a screen above the stage, so you can see close-up’s as well as the full conversation. Before the three discussion participants leave the stage the coup de theatre begins, and continues as we move to the video footage they have been discussing and further still……to the extraordinarily silence. It surprised me how much it drew you in, grabbed hold of you and ramped up the tension until you’re rather shell-shocked; hence the silence. Matthew Lenton’s production is unique.

I’ve only seen Vanishing Point’s work twice before – Tomorrow at the Edinburgh Fringe and The Beautiful Cosmos of Ivor Cutler at the Brighton Festival last year, which couldn’t be more different, so my appetite is truly whetted for more.