The humour within the scene is gentle rather than pratfall slapstick and the cast show off their consistently excellent mime skills. There are two nuns, two opposing volleyball teams, holiday makers, a beat combo, paparazzi… It is difficult to believe that this is a cast of just five actors and we shall see many of these characters again before the end of the evening. Dozens of characters come and go, arriving and departing via an escalator, criss-crossing the stage – a different hat, jacket, suitcase signifying a change in character. Hulot enters the opening scene in the arrivals lounge (“Arrivee”) of a French airport. He gamely blows up a balloon and then lets it down again. Dressed in his recognisable raincoat and hat, carrying an umbrella (Set & Costume Designer Michael Vale), Lwanga’s languid movements and sad reflective expression set the mood. To start things off, Tati’s great comedic invention, Monsieur Hulot (Enoch Lwanga) enters through the audience. And there is little spoken dialogue – only occasional words are heard, some in French, some in English. There is little plot – various people arrive in Paris at the airport, visit the Pour la Maison Paris Expo, stay in a hotel and go to a restaurant before returning to the airport. And yet Co-Directors Valentina Ceschi and Thomas Eccleshare, with a cast of five (including Ceschi who doubles as an actor too), have created an evening’s triumph of mime and movement. An unlikely undertaking at first thought with the film’s notoriety for excessive detail, a myriad of characters, and almost no plot nor dialogue. “delightful entertainment of gentle comedy”ĭancing Brick presents a stage adaptation of the legendary film by Jacques Tati. PLAYTIME at the Royal and Derngate Theatre ★★★★
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