If the recurrent crisis moment is key to the disaster movie’s acceleration towards catharsis, the fragmented lines that are spoken here, by individual performers in the main, recall the anticipation of the ‘inevitable’ climax — the exclamation mark of the piece’s title, perhaps — without, then, allowing the reassurance of resolution. Frantic tones of panic, and a relentlessly fast pace, reify the expectation of dénouement, perpetually deferred. Furthermore, …Blues is subdivided into three acts of similar length, the borders of which are rendered stark by both the absence of conventional dramaturgical clues (a slowing of pace, a moment of stillness, music), and bold snaps into blackout. Structurally then, too, the piece marks the absence of the ‘classic’ movie it perpetually invokes.
Really enjoyed it. Well done. Glad to see it was a sellout! (Oops – can never think of an exclamation mark in the same way now.) AUDIENCE
RELENTLESS! AUDIENCE
MENTAL! AUDIENCE
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