Review: Farm Fatale, Southbank Centre

We’re living on a planet on the brink of a critical environmental disaster. Every day brings new reports of climate change disrupting ecologies and landscapes. Species are being registered as extinct at a rate never seen before as habitats alter and it becomes impossible to survive. This is all caused by the actions of humankind, so what do we see when we look at it from another angle? Part of the 75th anniversary programme at the Southbank Centre, Farm Fatale, invites us to view our declining world from the non-human perspective of a group of scarecrows who, as the ecological crisis takes hold, are now unemployed. We’re prompted to question our behaviours through their experiences: who’d have thought they’d miss the birds they worked so hard to frighten now that they’re gone?

This absurd production, conceived and directed by the internationally acclaimed Philippe Quesne, depicts a world where people are largely absent. It gently contemplates the damage that humankind has done, framing it in somewhat edgy nonsense, while imagining a new world where things might be different. 

The huge white background to the action works beautifully to describe a timeless, non-specific location, giving a sense of universality. Five humanesque scarecrows, played by Léo Gobin, Sébastien Jacobs, Nuno Lucas, Anne Steffens and Gaëtan Vourc’h and wearing grotesque masks (designed by Brigitte Frank), lumber about with clumsy movements and freakish voices, yet have a naïve bonhomie that is weirdly appealing. Unapologetically populating the stage with multiple languages and nationalities, theirs is an alternative way of being, fuelled by democracy and positive creativity, protest and integrity, as they debate existential challenges in their rural life damaged by industrialisation. And although alien, these are creatures that listen to the natural world in a way humans don’t do enough, even bothering to translate the language of tiny Margaret the Bee from her native Walloon so her voice is heard and recorded before being lost forever. It’s an example to us all.

Dark though the underlying knowledge of environmental catastrophe may be, the show is full of opportunities to laugh out loud and to enjoy the good things in life. In fact, now they have the time, the scarecrows have formed a band and created a radio show, so are doing just that. Live music and surreal physical comedy are beautifully performed and prompt comic moments which are often unexpected but utterly enjoyable. Trippy lighting design by Pit Schultheiss and a brilliantly barmy soundscape from Robert Göing & Anthony Hughes describe a world where any change can be conceived and then considered, before an epic, if rather confusing ending, where the scarecrows’ plan for a new future is extravagantly delivered.Farm Fatale might not be the show for everyone, it is nothing short of bonkers, probably best appreciated by just letting it all transpire without asking too many questions. But within the apparent madness is an enormous amount of positivity; of hope that a new future is not impossible, while we still have time to imagine it.

Performed by: Léo Gobin, Sébastien Jacobs (part created by Stefan Merki), Nuno Lucas (part created by Damian Rebgetz), Anne Steffens (part created by Julia Riedler), Gaëtan Vourc’h.

Concept, Set Design and Direction: Philippe Quesne
Set design Collaborator: Nicole Marianna Wytyczak
Costume Collaborator: Nora Stocker
Masks: Brigitte Frank
Lighting Design: Pit Schultheiss
Sound Design: Robert Göing, Anthony Hughes
Director’s Assistant: Jonny-Bix Bongers, Dennis Metaxas
Dramaturgy: Martin Valdés-Stauber, Camille Louis
Stage Management: François Boulet
Lighting: Vincent Chrétien
Sound: Félix Perdreau 

This run of Farm Fatale at Southbank Centre has now finished.