Coppélia & ‘The Supermarket Suite’
The Garden Theatre • 2 Aug - 14th Aug
The main piece of this dance double bill, Coppélia, produced by Peter Bull for Lambco Productions Summer Festival, is a funny, sexy, queer take on Delibes’ classic ballet of the same name, in which an engaged man finds his fidelity to his betrothed being tested when he falls for a mannequin who he believes to be a real person. It’s an inventive and entertaining reinvention wonderfully choreographed and directed by William Spencer. The dancing was excellent throughout this all male reimagining, and the productions installation into such an unusual space (St Gabriel’s Halls in Pimlico) might have appeared minimal in terms of staging but more than delivered in terms of the performance itself. Thankfully the ceilings were just about high enough to accommodate the leaps and lifts that were peppered throughout, and Michael Brenkley’s lighting design helped transport us far beyond the four plain walls of the hall, directing our focus firmly on the four strong cast. Hayden Tierney, Thomas Buckley, Jack Buchanan and Lewis Rimmer give faultlessly energetic performances whilst still being able to bring out the characters more nuanced, often surreal qualities. Thomas Buckley revels in the more grotesque qualities of Dr. C, whilst Hayden Tierney brings Freddie to life as a fully formed three dimensional character, his fluidity of movement matched only by the emotional range he seems effortlessly able to bring to the fore. Lewis Rimmer impressed with his comic timing when taking on the guise of the Coppélia doll, and Jack Buchanan provided a seemingly endless energy as Rimmer’s sprite-like sidekick.
Had I been aware of the original story beforehand I probably would have found it easier to contextualise the action in terms of location. Unfortunately, for those of us in the audience that come to this story unaware of the original, there was an unfortunate, at times frustrating disconnect with the narrative as four signs that hung at the back of the stage, intended to inform the audience about the various locations the story was taking place in, were printed in such a delicate outline-only font that the words were rendered illegible. As frustrating as this was, (especially as the signs were changed with equally unreadable ones half way through), enough of the story came through the performance to enable the audience to follow the broader strokes of the narrative. However, clearer signage would have helped explain why, having averted my gaze briefly to make a quick note on the performance, I discovered two dancers sword fighting with 12 inch dildo’s when my focus returned to the stage. (Needless to say the gender of the dancers isn’t the only thing that has changed from the original family-friendly ballet) As baffled as I was in that moment I later examined the signs at closer range after the performance had ended and found one reading, “Dr C’s Sex Shop”, Dr Coppélius clearly having changed from the strange, somewhat sinister toymaker of the original, to a lecherous sex shop owner here. The judicious use of Helvetica Bold would certainly have helped me better contextualise the moment… funny as it was anyway.
Coppélia had been preceded by a short 10 minute piece, The Supermarket Suite, an amusing vignette of supermarket life set to a selection of music from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker. Being every bit as inventive, amusing and skilfully executed as the main piece, it seemed to receive a more muted response as the audience adjusted to the pop-up theatre space and overall concept, but by the time Coppélia got underway, the laughter and applause was being given much more enthusiastically.
With the easily fixed issue of the signs aside, Lambco Productions have once again proved that even without a permanent home, or even a traditional theatre space at their disposal, they are always able to put on entertaining, inspiring and quality productions. They were the first company to bring live theatre back to London after the first lockdown, and should get a standing ovation themselves for the lengths they go to in order to ensure that the show does go on.
★★★★
