Mesmerising, addictive and impressively played, but eventually my brain became oversaturated with non-human voices and I wanted it to stop.Rating
Good
Cold Sweat is a new theatre work from Forced Entertainment that is absurd, unsettling and comical. Playing at the Purcell Room, Southbank Centre to a crowd anticipating a contemporary style of non-linear theatre. The Sheffield-based company debuted the performance in 2025, going further with the same lip-syncing mode used in their companion show, Signal to Noise. The group’s artistic director Tim Etchells uses original texts and sound by layering music loops with AI – generated voices. The result is a very strong sound design of technically impressive tonal score that lasts approximately 75 minutes. Speeches, statements and sounds list and catalogue objects, moments, cliches and truths. The words are synthetic, poetic and confusing.
The empty space sets the mood, with collapsible outdoor tables, chairs and inflatable plastic seats giving off an end of festival vibe, or like the morning after of some huge party. The three performers enter and fill the space with wonderful physical, often comedic presence, and perform absurd repetitive improvisations. Their energised non-characters move endlessly through the space, even when sat around a table. Hundreds of paper cups litter the floor, empty spirit bottles are packed and repacked on a loop, with a sense of something shifting, moving forward, only to be unpacked and moved about again. They appear embroiled in some kind of domestic drama, so some might project a narrative onto their gesture and tone. Richard Lowdon, Claire Marshall and Terry O’Connor deftly parade different characters in wild and varied wigs, whilst wearing thrift store garb or classier velvet jackets, frocks and maxi-gowns. The trio all change costumes on stage as part of the performance. Their bodies feel the rhythms generated by the non-human AI voices, distorting and twitching in repetitive physical overload.
Lowden, Marshall and O’Connor’s characters struggle to convey their worries, dreams and desires by immaculate lipsyncing of AI-generated human voices. I started counting up to five loops that became familiar and then my mind longed for those moments of silence or bird song. The continuous state of confusion played on repeat reminded me of an Artaud exercise about performative repetition, and the noise is hard to retain at times. And yet that feeling felt current and real in relation to the world today and how humans exist in spaces overwhelmed by algorithms.
At one point, Lowden deftly swoops up several empty bottles at once and hugs them closely as Jim Harrison’s lighting crackles. The audience is being invited to brutally question their humanity amidst the paper cups of consumerism being thrown out and off the stage. It is an unsettling and touching and comedic ride. As a longtime fan of Forced Entertainment it was reassuring to experience their latest non-typical theatre show. Cold Sweat is mesmerising, addictive, and impressively played, but eventually my brain became oversaturated with non-human voices and I wanted it to stop. A bit like how I feel about AI.
Conceived and devised by the company
Directed by Tim Etchells
Devised with and performed by Richard Lowdon, Claire Marshall and Terry O’Connor
Text, composition and sound design by Tim Etchells
Stage Design by Richard Lowdon
Lighting Design by Jim Harrison
Production Management Jim Harrison
Produced by Eileen Evans for Forced Entertainment
Co-produced by KONTRÄR, Stockholm, Sweden
Creative support: La Commune, Centre dramatique national d’Aubervilliers and La Menagerie De Verre, France
This show has now ended its run at the Southbank Centre
