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| Photo credit - Jack Offord |
Bristol Old Vic’s
subterranean Studio space has been overtaken by it’s Young Company and
transformed into a peaty woodland kingdom. Less a paradise than a waking
nightmare, this reinterpretation of Ted Hughes’ 1967 poem Wodwo breathes new
life into the age-old angst of being afraid of the dark.
The poem for Hughes
marked a departure in his signature style – moving away from formal constraints
and into a more fluid exploration of mythology. Which makes it a fitting choice
for the Young Company to develop Wodwo when they also break away from their
previous, more traditional theatre style. And what better time to make a bold
statement than on their twentieth anniversary?
Performed in the
round, Wodwo sets the scene with a raised bed of soil as the stage floor, an
overhanging canopy of litter as the forest roof, and neon light tubes planted
in the forest floor. As always with the Old Vic, nothing is what is seems.
A girl is wandering
the forest searching for her father, and on her journey she encounters all
kinds of creatures – frogs, bees, wolves and many more that are less easy to
identify! The malleable cast transform into these beings through an array of
neon sports clothing, bright lights and well placed Adidas for ears as they
crouch, creep and pounce through the scenery. The neon light tubes become
essential props, most effectively to create a mini wind tunnel as the drama
heightens to become a storm.
The plot itself is
sometimes rather hard to follow, consisting of scant speech, many made up words
and sounds and a lot of physical performance, but the effect is no less impressive
for it. Coming in at a tight 50 minutes, Wodwo is a whirlwind of a show that
explores issues surrounding loss, identity and approval, and is a brave and
interesting departure for the Young Company.
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