Conceived and designed by Ipso Refracto
Directed by: Anastasia Revi
Performers: Roanna Davidson, Philip Scott Wallace, Chris Leaney,
Johan Buckingham , Louis Labovitch
The Battle of Babylondon was a site-specific, interactive performance staged in association with the upcoming exhibition 'Out of this World: Science Fiction but not as you know it' at the British Library, Fri 20 May 2011 - Sun 25 Sep 2011.
Derived from the 1990 science fiction novel The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling, the performance plunged the audience into the summer of 1855, in an alternate, politically-charged, Steampunk London. The unrest between the New Radicals, the elitist political party in power, and the Anarchists, a motley crew of Luddites and Communists, had reached a fever pitch, and audiences were asked to choose a side to champion, making their way through a series of challenges, missions, and confrontations, in order to determine who would control the city and its fate. This performance took place on Friday, April 15, 2011, on a construction site in Canary Wharf, the dockside location of a key battle scene in The Difference Engine.
www.battleofbabylondon.co.uk
THE PAST, THE PRESENT, THE BALANCE - A great coexistence in Sophocles' ANTIGONE by Theatre Lab Company.
The atmospheric theatre of aesthetics and visuals that is the essence of Revi's work is so present in this production . The dust that covers everything, the drops of perfume on Antigone's skin as last preparation before her death, the rice they throw on her as she walks to her "bridal" tomb, the dynamic presence, singing and dancing of Robert Finlay, Chris Gunter and Mathew Wade as Chorus, the inornate "imprisoned music" of Ann Malone and Noah Young, the fairy figured Lisa Stuart as Antigone, the gradual shrinking of the "omnipotent" King Creon by George Siena, the desperate Haemon by Tyler Coombes, the unpredictable almost "inadvertent" Johan Buckingham as the prophet Tiresias, the innocent Sentry by Tobias Deacon and the down to earth teenager Ismene by Kathryn Carpenter complete powerful images, create contradictions and arouse the senses . Anastasia Revi seems to win this bet by putting her signature on this classic production that is full of turns and twists without losing the balance.
(Evdoxia Lymperi, Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation 3, 2010)
A TIMELY EXAMINATION OF AGE-OLD DILEMMAS
The sheer energy of the players grabs the audience from the off, and the pace does not slacken. Theatre Lab has succeeded in recapturing some of the magic of this most ancient art form while making it feel relevant to the fast-changing modern world.
(Dan Hodges, Fulham and Hammersmith Chronicle, London, 2010)
Strong and rich-voiced performers who make the ritualised gestures and choreographies she has given them grow from feeling ... there is musical support throughout on tambours, pipes and bell-like gong composed and played by Anne Maolone and Noah Young which is very atmospheric . The physicality produces emotional effect without having to comprehend any obvious significance in its rituals and gestures.
(Howard Loxton , British Theatre Guide, 2010)
Lisa Stuart is an intense, dramatic and reckless Antigone in contrast to the down to earth Ismene of Kathryn Carpenter. Skinhead George Siena, dressed in black, makes a frightful Creon. He looks and acts the dictator, threatening, sometimes cajoling and always menacing. The Chorus consisting of three young men were amazingly effective and show what talent and imagination can do. Tobias Deacon made a wonderful and very humorous Sentry. One does not associate too many laughs with Greek tragedy but the poor, terrified Sentry who has to tell Creon that his orders have been disobeyed can be quite funny. Deacon was. One of the major strengths of the production was the music composed and performed by Anne Malone and Noah Young.
(James Karas, Greek Press, 2010)
