Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea combines avant-garde and retro to create an exciting and revolutionary method of storytelling. The very first sketch is a perfect example: against an animated screen a woman is running on the spot, white-faced and wearing a lilac basque. The environment on the screen behind portrays her journey, underscored by music played by an equally pale-faced pianist. The scene evokes the early silent films screened in cinemas with live orchestras. Until, after a few moments, narration is provided, describing a village, a man, a sea and a reason to run.

Like much of what is to follow, the opening sketch is a combination of suggestive physical acting, atmospheric sound-track and narrated story-telling. The tale told is dark and humorous in equal measure, and it is here that the joy of the piece lies. Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea is a theatrical contradiction. On stage are three exquisitely made-up women. Slim, feminine and dressed in a 1920’s style, each performer moves and holds herself in a elegant and composed fashion; voices are cut-glass and old fashioned. Appearances and content are thus often in discord, as stories and scenes depict devilish doings; murders, desertions, suicides, revolutionary biscuits and Tony Hart. The most gruesome stories are often the lightest in tone, a dissonance that leads to a great deal of comedy. Suzanne Andrade’s clever text and wordplay transform ghastly happenings (the disappearance of a lodger, a child playing 'crack whore') into the sublimely ridiculous while also managing to incorporate elements of traditional folk tales. Suzanne Andrade marries the horrid and the delicious.

The films and animations created by Paul Barritt run throughout the entire show are beautiful in their own right and integral to the show. It is the animations and films, along with Lillian Henley on piano that make this performance three-dimensional. Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea is viscerally entertaining as a cabaret, but has a quality of exposition and narrative both in language and animation that make it theatrically satisfying. Adding the sharp and well-timed performances from Suzanne Andrade and Esme Appleton, Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea creates something truly gorgeous. A world of black magic, a world of their own definition, where 'anything and everyone can be enchanted'.

Cast Credits: (alpha order): Suzanne Andrade. Esme Appleton.

Company Credits: Writer - Suzanne Andrade. Director - Suzanne Andrade. Animation and Film - Paul Barritt. Music composed and performed by - Lillian Henley. Lights/Sound - Paul Barritt. Producer - 1927 (Suzanne Andrade and Paul Barritt). Company - 1927. www.19-27.co.uk

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(c) Sara Pascoe 2007

reviewed Tuesday 7 August 07 / Underbelly

Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2008