created performed by
Silvia Mercuriali and Matt Rudkin
directed by
David Woods
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Dean Gibbons and the Knowledge of Death, a new work from Silvia Mercuriali and Matt Rudkin's company Inconvenient Spoof, is a thought-provoking and entertaining exploration of evolutionary and environmental issues which successfully mixes puppetry and video with elements of physical theatre.
Earth has reached the end of its oil supply and the future looks bleak. The only glimmer
of hope lies with primatologist Dr. Swansong and his subject, a bonobo called Dean. The plot is a complex one featuring sinister government organisations, eugenics and environmental apocalypse.
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Both performers immerse themselves in their unusual roles. Regular Clod Ensemble member Mercuriali plays Dean with a superb display of physical comedy, her performance a remarkably convincing collage of head scratches and grunts which sees her loping around the stage with a suitably monkey-like
gait, while Rotozaza collaborator Matt Rudkin plays the amusingly-accented evolutionary expert Swansong as an excitable and amiable character with a touchingly paternal commitment to his subject.
The technically inventive production partly takes the form of a lecture, complete with slides, a device which allows for some direct interaction with the audience. Puppets are used to portray the politicians. These are incredibly effective, their darting eyes and exaggerated movements
creating a real sense of menace. The production as a whole is texturally rich and visually inventive though it does at times feel indulgent and over-stuffed.
That said Rudkin and Mercuriali manage to fully populate the intimate stage and though their piece is only an hour in length it feels ambitious in both scope and scale. Despite its comic tone the production asks some necessary questions. Is progress the key to happiness? Do we lose something as indivduals as we move forwards as a species? It touches on a number of complex subjects, but the abusrdist nature of the narrative means that it never hectors the audience.
- Gillian Fisher
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London reviews
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