revew: Hannah Jane Walker and Chris Thorpe – I Wish I Was Lonely
Hannah Jane Walker and Chris Thorpe/
I Wish I Was Lonely/
The Dukes, Lancaster/
13/02/15//
twetin inna thater #IWishIWasLonely
— James Varney (@mrjvarney) February 13, 2015
because i did genuinely like the form
maybe not for this piece
but if this is the direction theatre is headed in
count me in
but im glad i saw it
and the aspects i liked
genuinely excite me
are packed with possibility
the volume of experiments spread it thin
each felt not underexplored but underutilised
i wish theyd taken a few out
so they could go deeper
it was thought provoking
by virtue of ideas
that werent wholly supported by the content
the formal experiments were
clever
fun
playful
& enjoyable
i think the piece was unsure what mood it wanted to create
& ended up conflicted
/all/ of that said
and realising ive been very critical
this was important theatre
ultimately the piece was too over conscious
of its capacity to be invasive
to really interfere with our daily lives
too eager to avoid upset
with the forays into verse & misery
it was like we being poked and asked
‘Isn’t this unnerving?’
and the answer was
‘No, not /really/.’
and it could have been so subtle
and gradually more unnerving
if they werent so nice and reassuring throughout
which killed that aspect
we were so easily put into that frame
of acquiescent awkwardness
knowing there was a subtle power over us
.@hanwalker at one point
said we were going to rearrange into a circle
didnt ask us
told us
and we all did it
very quickly
/really/ bloody simple
but /really/
/very/
slightly unnerving
and everyone felt it
together
was that little bit on edge
entering the space
we were asked to hand over our mobile numbers
once in there
the seating was spread
scattered
and directionless
as an audience
we were /very/ quickly out of our comfort zone
and this was done /very/ simply
most frustrating
about the failure of connection between form and content
was that they so almost had us
but dammit they were too nice to us
the content was not bland
nor uniform
nor uninteresting
and neither were the pieces formal quirks
but they only ever felt like quirks to me
.@hanwalker & @piglungs shouting verse/heightened prose
telling us about how disconnected we are
stories of both suicide & a miscarriage
and there were attempts
forays into this
the environment of the performance was far too cosy
for the elements of unease to take any effect
as it was
we were told how out of control we are
while involved in a series of fun experiments
punctuated with bits of performance
idve seen more sense
been more satisfied
if the audience was less in control
or if our phones were removed from the equation completely
and the piece used phones
the audience engaged using phones
fun engaging ideas
bt incongruous
idve seen more sense if our phones had used us
.@piglungs & @hanwalker wish they were lonely
were all constantly connected
that has changed us fundamentally
were controlled by our phones
the irony of the shows subject matter
and its form’s dependence on the audience members all owning phones
was too much for me
there was an interesting tension
between @hanwalker and @piglungs‘s personas, performances and instructions
but somewhere that tension broke
I like that sort of stuff
I like playing wit theatre
theatre that /isnt/ just a ‘show’
bt this piece I guess felt like it was /just/ playing
dont get me wrong
th ideas /were/ genuinely interesting
at times exciting
I like th toying with th idea of ‘what theatre is’ that it implied
I dont’ think I’d call @piglungs and @hanwalker‘s #IWishIWasLonely a show
more a workshop/a neat idea/a series of neat ideas/experiments