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Jet Of Blood
Ignite Productions
Space Theatre
Wed 7 March
Season Closed
Three and a half pages of hyper stage directions and explosive dialogue written in 1926 by Antonin Artaud, was said to be the play impossible to stage. Whether or not Ignite have stayed true to the page is unimportant theatrically, because what they have made it is sensational. A thoroughly entertaining and entirely disturbing stage spectacular encompasses the Space Theatre in which the demented nightmare plays out.
Death (Grant Cartwright), in all his Shakespearian theatrical gloominess preludes the show with housekeeping business - that there is to be no escape from the life threatening experience... and mobile phones are to be switched off. The light-hearted entertainment goes undercover from then onward, a shroud of sinister chaos falling on The Young Man (Simon Corfield) and The Young Girl (Amelia Best) whose comical confessions of love and happiness is blown apart when the arms of The Nurse (Lara Tumak) and The Knight (Austin Castiglione) reach out from the couple's respective beds. What follows is a montage of fears and horrors (e.g. office stresses and public speaking) that uses props, lighting, sound and the surreal comic horror to great effect.
The sound is absolutely amazing, but then again, everything is spectacular. Such is the twisted and believably schizophrenic atmosphere, that when a mobile phone rang in the front row, Amelia Best slapped the responsible audience member without regard. It was entirely apt - the world created by the cast and crew demanded such a response. Being such a rich piece of theatre, not only should you see this play, perhaps you should see it twice. But make sure to turn your phone off.
Steven Williams
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