One of the delights of the Fringe is coming across shows which defy normal classification, refusing to be pigeon-holed into neat categories - dance, drama, music theatre, play with music, and so on. One category which has emerged in recent years (Why do we feel this constant need to categorise?) is physical theatre, but now even this is fragmenting: the boundaries between dance, drama and music shift from work to work, so the would-be cataloguer has to invent sub-categories such as dance with words, drama with movement, and so on.
Why bother? say I, but some people seem to need it.
Jo Parkes describes her work as the "fusion of text, vocalisation and movement to convey autobiographical stories". Ant Infestation... consists of eight such "stories", with various combinations of six performers, accompanied by the spoken word (either recorded or, more usually, spoken by the performers), music (some specially written, some adapted, and some using the original recording), vocalisation (disconnected or fragmentary words from the performers), or silence.
Sounds strange? Not really theatre? It all depends on what you mean by....!
Certainly it has the effect on the audience which the best theatre has, and if that isn't enough for it to be called theatre, then I don't know what is. It's funny, exciting, insightful, and immensely enjoyable. Certainly the audience at this performance loved it and were keen to discuss what they had seen with the performers afterwards.
Big C is not really big at all (just bigger than its sister theatre, Little C) and the intimacy of the venue added to the impact and meant that the performers could relate directly to the audience, even speaking to them on occasion. From the very first piece (Looking the Wrong Way, a solo performance by Jo Parkes herself), this audience contact was established and we felt that we were being admitted to an intimacy with the private lives of these women.
An eye-opener of a show!