Mañana es mañana @ The Currency Festival (The Place) 2014 Review

The Spanish company Cridacompany brings us a multi-disciplinary performance where circus, dance and song work together to create an absurd and puzzling gathering of scenes.

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In performances such as these, the core is the set of images in motion that are created, from which the audience may try to assemble a meaning. I cannot be sure that it always has one other than to experiment and explore different scenic possibilities. In the beginning, as Anicet Léone, the only woman in the company, is juggled and manipulated in the air, being effortlessly thrown and caught by the men, I couldn’t help but think of the big broad issue of women’s objectification and dependence. Whether they had that in mind at the point of creation I cannot be sure. That is an aspect of performances that may unnerve some members of the audience and excite others.

Although a bit disjointed, most of the scenes were very entertaining. However there was one scene perhaps too incongruous for me to understand its inclusion; it featured a video in which we accompanied their trip to a mountain from where one of the members base-jumped.

One of the quirkiest moments was the scene in which one performer played with a small ball on its feet throwing it from foot to foot doing several feats whilst never dropping it. The funny thing about it was the voice-over on top where we could hear a foreign English speaker describing proudly how this has been his number for twenty years and how everyone has seen it and strongly emphasising that it was a good number. The comedy is subtle but it will make you burst out laughing before the oddity of these scenes.

They perform their skills in unusual scenarios and keep us on the edge of our seat, surprising and baffling us. Cridacompany breaks many theatre conventions indeed and I must say I thoroughly enjoy their freedom in creation – it is definitely something you’ve never seen before. 4/5

Review written by Sofia Moura.

Mañana es mañana performed by Cridacompany was apart of this year’s Currency Festival on Saturday 8th November. For information on performances featuring in this year’s festival, visit here…

Written by Theatrefullstop