New Words 2010
Festival of New Writing
in Aberdeen and
North-East Scotland
1st–30th September 2010
Event Calendar
Writers & Performers
Groups & Companies
Publications Launched
Venues
Workshops
Reviews
Downloads
Review: Dumb Show
Poet, sound artist and light manipulator pick at the incomplete meanings of modern life
Thursday 9 September 2010 |
The Coffee House, Aberdeen [Map]
|
|
David Liddell, Knotbrook Taylor and Anton Beaver Photo by E. E. Chandler |
|
|
Projection by Anton Beaver Photo by E. E. Chandler |
The Dumb Show was a powerful exploration of life, death and sex, lots of sex, filtered through the intensely powerful poetry of Knotbrook Taylor, sound effects, radio voices, robot voices, sampling and guitar from David Liddell with Anton Beaver's stunning visual images projected on the roof throughout the show.
Knotbrook, a compelling performer, declaimed his poems, a tumbling of imagery and ideas with dramatic use of repetition, especially in the poem describing the aftermath of a car crash.
‘Scraping it off, scraping it off.’ ‘He looked like a lady lying in the road.’ ‘Our children become us, we are our children.’
These lines resounded in my head after the show.
Knotbrook's work runs the full spectrum of emotions from sadness to angst and anger and really lends itself to this kind of show.
The use of both Knotbrook and Liddell's voices worked really well in Cape Cod v Thanatos, where they took alternate verses; Liddell's use of an American accent was really effective here.
The show dissected the world of internet dating, a youth's fear of intimacy, tattooed females and a whole lot more, with lots of thought provoking words, images and sounds. This was a highly enjoyable performance which really left us with something to think about.
Mark Pithie
|
David Liddell and Knotbrook Taylor Photo by E. E. Chandler |
|
|
Promoted by |
|
|
Supported by |
