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40 Feathered WinksVerdict: Imaginative but undeveloped physical theatre
40 Feathered Winks begins with a slow-motion montage of the pyjama-clad cast crawling out of bed.
The result is oddly bland - as if performance artists have been employed to create a furniture advert.
This is true for most of the physical expression utilised within this piece, as it is basic, unskilled and sloppily executed.
As an ensemble, The Paper Birds are well-intentioned but lacking in any real dance or physical ability. The time spent on movement would have been better used in developing their narratives.
The stories told in 40 Feathered Winks gravitate around the theme of beds and their uses. Characters use their beds imaginatively - not merely for sleeping and waking, but also for hiding, dancing, dying, giving birth and making love.
The beds themselves, which continually move on the stage, are creatively exploited. The actors are able to disappear behind and underneath them, be swallowed by them and appear from within their hollowed-out interiors.
This creates a blending of scenes which is soft and visually interesting, though the scenes themselves are lacking in quality.
40 Feathered Winks is hugely underwritten and often clichéd: a giggly pair who fancy each other, a boozy one-night-stand and a flippant and supposedly comic take on having a relative in a coma all fail to be entertaining or interesting. There is the odd moment of clarity and emotion - a scene exploring a mother's frustration by her wailing baby is well-acted and mature - but for the main part the stories lack substance and the performers lack craft.
As an exploration of beds and their various uses, 40 Feathered Winks is inoffensive enough.
But with a narrative that is only really a series of snapshots of undeveloped ideas, The Paper Bird Theatre Company should be more concerned about snoozing in the audience.
Cast Credits: (alpha order): Jemma McDonnell. Elle Moreton. Jonathan Scratchley. Lawrence Speck. Kylie Walsh.
Company Credits: Director - Jemma McDonnell. Lighting Designer and Technician - Brendon Gage. Set and Costume Desginer - Alison Staples. Composer and pianist - Shane Durrant. Company - The Paper Birds Theatre Company. www.thepaperbirds.com
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(c) Sara Pascoe 2007
Reviewed August 07 / Gilded Balloon
Subeditor - Bo Wilson
Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2008