The Butler

DO I DARE TO EAT A PEACH (AND MORE BESIDES)?

"Let us go then, you and I,
When the evening is spread out against the sky
Like a patient etherised upon a table..."
So begins TS Eliot's 1917 immortal poem The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock, which this stunning production references and - along with other literary works - is informed by. The highly physical show provokes its audience to ask, "Who are we? What are the rules? And what happens when the rules are given no boundaries?" Questions that Eliot, Shakespeare (also quoted), film maker Peter Greenaway and others have asked throughout time.
I loved this company's brazen confidence to do something daring, largely non-verbal, and strong. It's great to see this work emerging from Christchurch and touring overseas as they are about to do. The Tauranga Festival organisers have done well to choose such a bold work to open the theatre season in this year's offerings.
Our Everyman guide in this eccentric yet strangely familiar scenario of a dinner party is a Butler, perfectly attired and astutely played, who pays attention to every detail in the canvas that comes to life before our eyes. He lights the candles, slowly but surely sets the scene, and off we go.
We're taken on a bizarre, sexy, wild journey that exposes the gaps between social conventions and echoes the work of entrancing French company Philippe Genty.
The huge dinner table itself is the central stage that becomes a playground for sex, love, hate, near-death, appetite and every other vice or virtue in-between. It helps that these performers have such experience in circus skills. We have hula-hoops, acrobatics, opera, martial arts, and other stunt/ fight work. It's a visual feast and everyone gets their chance to be challenged and shine. There's a real sense of company at work here.
"Do I dare to eat a peach?" Prufrock asked, and our all-knowing Butler also asks at one point. To dare is to live, the show seems to say. His guests eat much more besides a peach, including each other.
This is one wild exploration of the gap between instinct and rules. There's a witty snapshot of the Evolution of Man not to be missed. I must say I wanted more snapshots throughout the production and I suspect the company will keep finding these as the work evolves.
There is an eclectic use of music from Michael Nyman's signature overture from The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover , to the Sex Pistols, to the Doors. (What a superbly sexy entrance to People are Strange - so well choreographed and executed). Music is treated as a literal text as the lyrics are paramount, which is fine, but it does provide a mish-mash of styles that clashes somewhat with the highly stylised visual design of the piece. But I suppose that's what a good dinner party will offer: variety, eclecticism and the anachronistic.
The show is a spectacle, well worth seeing. Language is few and far between, but the text that is there has earned the credit to be spoken by virtue of the physical work done. Mike Friend is to be credited for his adventurous direction and Joe Bennett's wonderfully rich, politically 'incorrect' text/concept is sparse, but sophisticated. Less is indeed more. But the final accolade must go to the company for their excellent ensemble work.
I'm not sure about having the Director warm the audience up before the show; I'd prefer to let the work speak for itself. And I certainly hungered for more backstory amongst the characters - the show nudges at this possibility (as happens when the Stranger arrives) but would be stronger still for more through-line in the narrative which back stories would provide.
See this show if you can. It's a rare treat and was a thrilling evening for the 550 audience punters at Baycourt Theatre last Thursday night.