It is the nature of performance art to be provocative. My feelings on post-show Q&A sessions range from them being unnecessary to completely unnecessary. So, when, at the apparent conclusion of Big Finish, an interviewer joins the cast onstage to take them through a summary of their career and a Q&A about / deconstruction of, the play I would have been out of the door had it been possible to make a discrete exit. This would have been a mistake as it is likely the Q&A is actually part of the play, albeit performed with such aching sincerity as to make it hard to be sure.
Big Finish (It’s the End of the World, But Not Now) does not follow normal theatrical conventions. There is no dialogue, in that the characters make speeches rather than converse, and most of the story is told by a narrator with the cast using mime and movement to illustrate the points being made.
Big Finish is divided into chapters to illustrate how humankind is heading towards extinction. The depiction of humankind is far from positive—the moon has grown to dislike us so much we are told it is, year by year, moving away from the earth so days are now 20 hours longer than at the dawn of time.
The humour in Big Finish moves from dry as dust subtle wordplay (stepping sideways is the only way forward) to more obvious visual gags and downright scatological jokes. The wasteful behaviour of past generations, who exploited the resources of the planet, and their being past their sell-by-date is apparent as they are portrayed as dinosaurs dressed for golf and raking through the limited resources remaining to extract a few quid. Yes, they’re raking it in.
The disposal of sewage into waterways is illustrated with literal toilet humour which would not be out of place in Viz magazine.
The small ‘p’ political points made are rarely subtle. Crabs are, apparently one of the most enduring species to the extent other organisms are adapting to be like them. Big Finish speculates if humankind emulated crabs, we would adopt their least endearing feature: pulling back anyone who tries to escape from the tribe.
There is a peculiar beauty to the movement of the cast. Their depiction of humanoid crabs is like a group of Cossacks dancing underwater or, as their outfits resemble astronauts, in zero gravity.
Big Finish moves at a sedate pace, a point acknowledged as one chapter in the play, entitled "Foam", involves watching foam pumping onto the stage for several minutes. Figs in Wigs acknowledges its reluctance to end a gag until it is squeezed of all humour with an excruciatingly funny sequence that precedes the Q&A. Dressed as a string quintet (but without trousers, naturally) as if on the Titanic, they perform a hideously out of tune version of "My Heart Will Go On", endlessly encored as one player after another proves unwilling to end the tune with dignity. It is worthy of Morecambe and Wise.
As well as environmental disaster, a secondary theme of Big Finish is the death of live theatre. Apart from a sequence involving the last will and testament of the company, which is stuffed with theatrical in-jokes, this secondary theme does not really become apparent until the show is deconstructed in numbing detail in the Q&A. The Q&A seems intended, in the manner of comedian Stewart Lee, to test the limits of audience patience as becomes apparent when the company conducts a survey to determine the features of the audience, parodying the questionnaires e-mailed out by theatres after the event.
The encore is an embarrassingly funny sequence involving the cast, in the deeply sincere manner of amateur dancers punching above their weight, trying, with stiff joints and clumsy movements, to dance to Dido’s "White Flag".
Big Finish (It’s the End of the World, But Not Now) may be too eccentric to appeal to a wide audience but is very rewarding for anyone willing to tackle an original and provocative show.