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An exuberant performance with skilled dancing and sensitive storytelling – but this one-person show doesn’t answer all of its questions.Summary
Rating
Good
GOYA presents Don’t Shoot the Albatross at VAULT festival this year, after its appearance at the Edinburgh Festival in 2022. Sam Woof plays Alby, young, gay and promiscuous, and we’re taken along on a walk through late-night London and let into Alby’s inner monologue. The script (also by Woof) is quite witty yet doesn’t always feel fresh in its humour – a slight shame as it is billed as part stand-up. But it is a good tour through a spectrum of thoughts from a young queer person who is avoiding what really matters. Don’t Shoot the Albatross explores some deep issues around connecting with people and connecting with yourself. It feels genuine and from the heart.
Woof’s performance is compelling and sensitive. Alby is shown to us in an attention-deficit-esque way of flitting from one thought to another, and it seems a realistic portrayal of someone’s troubled, avoidant psyche. Something about this does feel a bit confusing, though, until some of the thoughts start to come together towards the end of the play. But Woof’s energy is infectious, and tonight we were completely there with them through the ebb and flow of their vitality. Some moments that are intense seem to come from nowhere and a bit of a shock to witness, feeling nearly out of place. This could be the intention, pulled off really well, but if not there could be some thought given to pacing and intensity.
Don’t Shoot the Albatross is simply presented in a gloomy empty space which Woof brings to life well. The Vaults’ Cavern holds intrigue for the performance with only a few pairs of headphones hanging from the ceiling, and the lighting gives enough help with the ambience to swing us along with the moods of the show. There is no choreographer credited, so I assume that Woof also choreographed their own dancing, which gives important moments of transition some weight and showed them to be a very skilled dancer.
The one thing that I am still puzzled about is the albatross. It’s bad luck to kill an albatross – an old superstition which makes me wonder why certain animals bring more or less misfortune than others if you kill them – and maybe the show’s title is a hint towards this. But Alby’s visions of a haunting albatross that appears in dark London seem to come out of nowhere, and make little sense in the context of everything that’s happened. Maybe a connection with David Attenborough and Alby’s childhood is the link, but it doesn’t feel settled here either. Overall, Don’t Shoot the Albatross was an enjoyable experience, but did leave me with a few unanswered questions.
Written and composed by: Sam Woof
Produced by: Mrinmoyee Roy and Lowri Spear
Don’t Shoot the Albatross played as part of VAULT Festival 2023 and has completed its current run.
