Title:Life is a cabaret
Reviewed by Laurie Atkinson
The moment Red Mole's latest production began I was reminded of pictures I have seen in books about cabaret in Germany in the 1920s and 30s: white-faced entertainers in suits giving broad energetic performances, a musician on the bare stage playing catchy, raucous music, and a rough-and-ready set. A circus-like atmosphere is also created with the use of masks, shadow puppets, colourful costumes, and the performers playing directly to the audience.
This cabaret-circus feeling is further reinforced by the subject matter. The (Un)Known Island is a broad satire on the evils of colonialism, imperialism, and globalisation. King Corporate and his henchmen (a bishop, an anthropologist and a mariner/entrepeneur) go looking for an island that they can buy for few blankets and beads so they can exploit it. In the end, they destroy it and pollution destroys the rest of the world. This is agitprop theatre played to an audience limited to about 45 people, who, I am guessing, are unlikely to be ignorant of the fact that corporate greed and globalisation of trade has not been exactly a blessing to the poorer nation and everyone is affected by pollution, global warming, starvation, and poverty. So, who was the message for?
However, the performances by the cast of eight women are lively, particularly the singing and choral speaking, and the shadow puppet are colourful and effective. The masks, particularly the skeleton masks for the dance of death at the end, are suitably groteque.
Kieran Monaghan on drums and an electronic keyboard[sic-it was a guitar and melodica] and Chrissie Butler, who is also one of the eight members of the cast, on trombone [sic-she played clarinet, Cara Conroy-Low played trombone] provide excellent, cheerful, bouncy tunes that suggest circus music with just a hint of Kurt Weill.