I was lucky enough to watch the UK Premier of Moments, by Theatre Re at The Lowry in Salford. Theatre Re is an exciting theatre company specialising in physical and visual theatre, who have gained many fringe awards and performed across Europe. Moments set out to be an interesting conceptual piece of theatre that was part lecture, part physical theatre performance – exploring theatre as a collaborative, structural and repetitive medium.
When I walked into the Lowry’s Aldridge Studio Theatre, the stage had three dim spotlights, highlighting a keyboard, a lighting desk, and a chair. These would be the only set pieces onstage for the duration of the piece, imitating the vibe of a theatre workshop or rehearsal room space.
I found it strange that there was no music playing before the show began, as we didn’t quite know that the performance was beginning when the performers rushed on stage, all scrambling to prepare for the show. However, as their radio mics were turned up and distorted by sound designer Benjy (Benjamin Adams), it was clear that this was a very meta beginning to a metatheatrical show.
The performers were not quite ‘performers’ in a traditional theatrical sense: Katherine Graham operated as both lighting designer and lecturer, Guillaume Pigé as mime and physical theatre actor, and Alex Judd as musician and composer.
After the chaos of this opening emerged the first iteration of the central sequence – a montage of movements between Pigé and the chair. He treated the chair like his son, waving to friends under a golden spotlight, then spinning the chair as Judd played a hearty violin solo. However, just as this thrilling story began to emerge, they stopped the piece, each performer being openly critical of each other’s work. The performers then stood and introduced themselves to the audience, alongside some anecdotes about giving up a stable career for a Fringe show, the fears and joys of parenthood, and their own theatrical crafts. This is when the second thread of the piece emerged – the TED Talk.
As they further interrogated the opening movement sequence, they interspersed segments of each performer describing their passion for their different mediums in a lecture-style format. Graham described lighting as ‘fuzzy’ and ‘a kind of character’ while focussing the lights onstage. Judd presented his wonderful musical abilities by looping piano and violin, stating it as the emotion behind performance. Pigé demonstrated how tiny movements have the largest impact by repeating and describing how he adds meaning to the tiniest of movements. After this section, it’s clear that each performer is truly masterful in their medium.
However, they take time to show us each element in isolation, and explain how, when separate, there isn’t the same emotional impact. They showed a movement (the spinning of the chair) in isolation, with a blank white wash and no music. This had nowhere near the emotional impact of the original sequence. The performers then described why: the lighting creates the atmosphere, and music creates the emotion. I commend Theatre Re for bringing into focus the often undermined mediums of lighting and sound, and actively making the audience think about how a performance cannot work without all these elements in perfect harmony.
Then, with their master crafts in harmonious collaboration, the performers asked, “How can we make moments feel magic?” They allowed the audience’s (and their own) imaginations to unravel through repetition, with their rumination on the same movements making the atmosphere feel like a live rehearsal space. The collaboration between truly hardworking and talented individuals and the frustration and personal blame when something isn’t perfect is depicted, as Pigé blamed himself saying, “If a moment doesn’t feel magic, it’s on me,” to which Graham replied, “It’s on all of us.”
And, in the final sequence when their elements come together, it’s magic.
Pigé takes the chair, and repeats the movements from the beginning alongside new sequences they’ve added. We see the chair morph between states, from his father in a wheelchair, to his son taking his first steps. The lighting and music is deliberate and sparkling beneath, hurtling the physical story into a state of emotional lucidity. Pigé experiences grief and joy as he spins the chair for the final time, and the sequence becomes an emotional ode to loss, parenthood, and memory. It is beautifully simple, and even evokes a few tears from the audience. To further their insistence on theatre as a learning space, the performers emerge onstage after the final sequence, inviting the audience to speak to them in the lobby downstairs. I thought this was a lovely touch, displaying that Theatre Re want connection to emerge from their performances, and actively work towards engaging with audiences.
Overall, Moments is nothing new, but I think that’s the point. I recommend this to anyone with an interest in the craft of theatre making; Theatre Re have created a masterclass for budding theatre makers to observe how truly great theatre is rehearsed and performed.
Moments will be running in Bristol at The Tobacco Factory Theatre (22nd-23rd October 2024), Edinburgh at Capital Theatres Studio (28th-29th January 2025), Norwich at Norwich Playhouse (10th-12th February 2025) and Poole at The Lighthouse (March 11th 2025).
