Due to my general inability to turn down work I haven't had many nights off in 2011, but I have only had one gig in the month since Edinburgh ended and I have had the opportunity to do stuff. It takes a little getting used to. Tonight I headed down to the wonderful Lyric theatre in Hammersmith to see Knee High's latest production
the Wild Bride.
I've seen Knee High a couple of times,
The Wooden Frock back in 2004 and
Nights at the Circus in 2006. They're always entertaining and inspiring and will always surprise with their skills and their imagery. I can't believe it's five years since I've seen them - but then again that's how long I've been gigging seriously, so maybe that explains it.
Tonight might be the most impressive show I have seen from them, with an ultra-talented cast showing impressive diversity- acting, singing, playing instruments, dancing, operating beautiful puppets. Light bulbs became pears and there was a wonderful use of paint or coloured liquid of some kind to demonstrate purity and blood.
The company are Cornish (with a capital C for the Fist of Fun fans - they are certainly not "cornish") and there is a wonderful West Country otherness to them. They're doing their own thing and it's refreshing and beguiling. It's a folk story about the devil so it feels old-fashioned or maybe timeless in some ways and certainly a little bit magical and visceral, but there's a definite modernity to it too. As always when I get swept away in theatre I started thinking about my on work, which was easy to do tonight, as I am writing a West Country drama and something in the spirit of tonight's show helped guide me towards knowing what I should be aiming for with my own script. But it's also about love and religion, so it's right up my street. It made me think about how love is pragmatic in many ways, but still retains magic in spite of that. Love is pragmagic. I made up a new word. I love it when art inspires and sets the mind racing. It shows the importance to the creative person (even if you're creating knob jokes) to observe as well as perform.
At the end the show got the most spontaneous standing ovation I have ever seen. Usually a few people get to their feet and others semi-reluctantly or faux-coolly follow, but it seemed to me that everyone was up within a second. It's a beautiful, uncynical and genuinely entertaining piece of theatre. So much drama can be knowing or arch or show-offy and trying to show how edgy it is, but the people behind this are so talented there is no need to show off. They just get on with it. Go and see this if you can (though it ends in Hammersmith tomorrow), but do check out Knee High if you get the chance.
It's also strange to be sitting in the audience at the Lyric, knowing that I will be up on that same stage on Sunday, maybe even having the props and set of this show within touching distance back stage (though I suspect in this case the company will have cleared out). Sometimes it suddenly dawns on me how lucky I am to have the job I do and admittedly in the last couple of years as the hard work starts to pay off this is easier to do. But seeing something like this piece reminds me that entertainment is much better when it is live and it's just incredible to be able to perform in a theatre as brilliant as this one. Though I can't promise light bulb pears or fantastic deer puppets on Sunday there is a really sensational line-up of comedians, Jeremy Hardy, Phil Nichol, Matthew Crosby and one of my personal favourite comedians (who will be a big star of the future and if you come you'll be able to tell your friends you saw him before he was famous) Wes Packer. If you're in London or near enough to drive in, then don't sit at home watching telly, come down to the Lyric
Book here.
If you want to hear the interview I did with Danny Bevins during the Edinburgh Fringe, then check out his podcast
here.
