Review: Delusions and Grandeur, Zoo Playground

Karen Hall takes the unusual and highly original step of starting her play before it’s even begun. Foregoing any kind of pre-show ambiance or lights, Hall instead greets you from where she sits on a lone chair in the middle of the stage, eating her lunch as you take your own seat in the audience, and she chats away to all who’ve joined as the minutes to showtime tick away. It’s an immediate demolition of the fourth wall that both eases you into her presence, while also signalling just how intimate things are going to get.

This is after all a very revealing yet simple tale; Hall has been defined in her adult life by her expertise in playing the cello, and while it’s certainly a hard-earned talent, a gift, to play at the expert level she can, to be so accomplished can be its own constraint. Where does Hall herself begin and her life as a musician end? Can a distinction be made? And is the show itself more than just talking about this, but actually proof that there can be?

It’s a multi-layered and powerfully personal story that is complimented by Hall’s wonderful musicianship, the narrative structured around a suite of music by Bach, the segments of which form bridges between the play’s acts. The show is at its best when we feel the emotional ups and downs latent in Bach’s music in time with Hall’s narrative, and some techniques are quite effective in getting us there, including Hall’s slippery costume changes that alter her mode of character to the manic physicality she can bring to bear, such as when rummaging through the contents of her travel bag.

Less successful are moments when highly relevant academic studies are cited and explained, including quite an intriguing one regarding how much information we retain day on day, less than 80% according to Hall’s sources. Will we remember her show, every detail that she’s poured years of her life into? These stats are interesting by themselves but just cited as they are they can often fail to hit the same emotional level than the more narrative and personal elements present. If Hall could find a way to build stories around them, bear the data out with her own lived experience, it would make for a richer experience all round.

That said, addressing this would be icing on the cake of on an already very special piece of theatre. Hall is a revelatory and revealing artist who’s taken her lived experience and used it to craft a show unlike any you’ve seen before. It’s touring worldwide, so if you’re lucky enough to have her come visit grab your ticket pronto.

Created and performed by Karen Hall

Delusions and Grandeur played as part of Edfringe. For future dates for this show, see Karen Hall’s website, link below.