Camden Fringe: Whispers Turn into a Cry, Collection Theatre

I’m always a little bit weary of a show whose synopsis I can’t quite get a handle on. I’m afraid in this case, my intuition was right. The show is described as ‘a performance about Nostalgia … the story of a life of a being’, a ‘being’ indicating a human who might sometimes during the performance turn into an object from her memory. Based on voice, music and movement improvisa, this is a piece that both on paper and on stage, would appear to make more sense in the minds of the artists than it does when translated to a public space.

The audience enter the room to live music accompaniment played by one of the performers, while the other half of the cast appear to do warm up exercises. The performance unfurls into a series of erratic and somewhat inexplicable action and movement. The performance is augmented by part melodic, haunting vocals and part random sound. One member of the cast particularly impresses with a powerful and controlled voice. Additionally, a faint narrative is almost literally whispered and dropped into the air, a story of being born and a countdown to death.

The two female performers seem to take turns being both mother and child, remembering the past and reveling in the present. The imagery is strong but does not always seem logical or clear. The addition of live music and sound added a welcomed additional character, which for me, might have been the most interesting part of the piece. The non-physical presence of this musical personality added suspense and even a sinister element to the piece, facilitating a much-needed extra dimension.

While this type of theatre is not quite to my personal taste it cannot be argued that it is an incredibly courageous piece, presented with confidence and great pride. It was quite joyous to see both actors, Maryam Davari and Sara Amini, immerse themselves in something that to the untrained, or even trained eye, is quite unusual to watch. 

Whispers Turn into a Cry played at the Collection Theatre 5 & 6 August as part of the Camden Fringe.
Camden Fringe Box Office http://www.camdenfringe.com/?id=6