An energetic spoken-word performance tackling timely questions around social media, visibility and AI, but its ideas too often remain declarations of frustration rather than developing into deeper questions.Rating
Ok
What happens when being seen starts to feel more frightening than being invisible? No Photos takes this question into the world of social media, photography, artificial intelligence and self-image, asking what constant visibility is doing to the way we understand ourselves and each other.
There is plenty here to think about. Ryan Dre Sinclair’s writing touches on recognisable contemporary anxieties: the pressure to be photographed, the commercialisation of everyday images, AI entering our lives, and the possibility that we are becoming so accustomed to recording the world that we forget to simply look at it. The difficulty is that No Photos rarely digs far beneath them. Ideas are frequently introduced through passionate declarations of anger before moving on to the next concern. The result is energetic, but the arguments can feel underdeveloped.
The piece is particularly strong when its personal perspective comes through, but the lens through which these ideas are explored also creates an interesting limitation. Although the questions around visibility, social media and changing human relationships could apply to people much more broadly, the examples and frustrations remain largely rooted in male experience. This does not necessarily feel like a deliberate attempt to make the subject exclusively about men, but it does narrow the range of a piece whose themes could otherwise speak to a much wider audience. At times, the sense is less that people in general are becoming less visible, and more that men in particular are losing a position they once occupied at the centre of attention. Broadening that perspective could make the piece’s questions about visibility more resonant.
What keeps the performance engaging is Sinclair himself as the performer. His commitment never wavers, and his energy carries the piece through its quieter passages. The pacing is generally well handled, with jokes, rhythmic passages and moments of silence providing welcome variation. The props are introduced with purpose, although one musical sequence would benefit from a different stool or surface: its muted sound makes the rhythm difficult to distinguish.
The compact arrangement of the space at Vaulty Towers also creates an unexpectedly intimate relationship between performer and audience. The lighting is understandably limited by the bar-based venue, while noise from the venue above occasionally competed with the performance. Nevertheless, the darkness of the space creates some interesting changes as Sinclair moves around it.
There is also an appealing idea in the final spatial arrangement, which only becomes clear towards the end: both performer and audience appear to be waiting to be seated, subtly turning the act of watching into part of the show’s wider concern with being seen.
No Photos is clearly a work with further life ahead of it, having already developed through several performances and continuing to Theatre Peckham. Its themes deserve that opportunity. With more interrogation behind its anger – and a broader perspective on whose visibility is at stake – it could turn its many frustrations into something considerably more searching.
Written by Ryan Dre Sinclair
Directed by Desree
No Photos plays at Vaulty Towers until Tuesday 29 September for Lambeth Fringe and then at Theatre Peckham on Thursday 8 and Friday 9 October as part of Young, Gifted and Black season.
