With high octane hilarity and exceptional silliness, this delightfully inclusive performance invites us to think differently about our relationship with art.Summary
Rating
Excellent
If you’re going to see SPLAT! by Of The Jackel, be prepared to laugh until your face hurts! Directed with impressive precision by Jack Kelly, this fabulous production invites an audience of ages 3-6 years and their grown-ups into an artists’ studio where two very different people set about trying to create art together. One is searingly uptight and conventional in his approach, but the other is chaotic and clearly doesn’t follow the rules. A huge amount of hi-jinks and laughter ensues as they play with art, learning to collaborate together and finding new ways of creating in the process. Using their own, uniquely innovative style, they also recreate some amazing masterpieces live on stage. The whole is controlled anarchy!
Ruby De Ville Morel and Luke Pitman offer absolutely astonishing physical performances. They work brilliantly as a synchronised, energetic team to relay the story, tying themselves in knots and morphing through body shapes with ridiculous, slapstick clowning, and yet hardly speaking a word throughout. For the first 20 minutes of this performance there was literally barely a second where the audience weren’t chuckling or outright shrieking with laughter. Pitman in particular is exceptional, using every inch of his body from eyebrow to eyeball to his bulging bicep, telling the tale through a hugely disciplined and totally captivating performance.
This is a thrillingly entertaining show for young children – and for adults – full of delightful interaction. The characters’ own relationship clearly develops through their collaboration, as they reconsider how art can be, which is a lovely example to offer the audience, perhaps empowering them to be confident in their own artistic endeavours. It’s enabled by the performers invading the auditorium space, getting the spectators actively involved with the artist’s studio. Objects fly riotously between stage and seating and unsuspecting adults are lured into the process. On this occasion, several children excitedly moved closer to the front, keen to be closer to the action.
The story is not as simple as first appears and it soon becomes clear that we are seeing a history of art being enacted. This charts an evolution from monkeys and cave art to the modern day and Banksy via a host of artworks, all displayed in inventive, surprising tableaux. It’s really ingenious and great fun to identify the paintings, though clearly easier for adults: there are some slight lulls at points when more obscure artworks are shown. Clearly, many of the children might not know them, so to counter this a QR code is available at the end of the show that reveals a site where all the images are collated. It might perhaps be better to have this on a freesheet where the kids can tick them off as they recognise them in the moment – like bingo, or have them subsequently revealed in a projection, so they remain connected with the immediate action, but it is nonetheless a neat way to connect with the imagery.
The movement team (Brian Duffy, Justyna Janisewska & Georgia Tegou) must be credited for their incredible work facilitating this demandingly skilled performance that uses the venue and objects really effectively and includes both hearing and non-hearing audiences. Alongside this, the choice of music is at times inspired, always evocative, and it adds a satisfying extra layer to the visual storytelling.
SPLAT! is simply inspiring, packed with relentless laughter and astounding performances. This show is a brilliantly inclusive activity that disrupts conventional ideas of what being an artist is, transforming preconceptions as it crafts a space for the whole family to reimagine creativity through play. I recommend ice cream after to ease your aching jaw…
Directed by and lead Creative: Jack Kelly
Devised by: Althea Burey, Will Bliss, Joey Timmins, Elf Lyons, Joey Robinson Holden, Matt Willis, Johnny Macaulay, Jock Maitland, Karina Garnett, Luke Pitman
Movement Direction by: Brian Duffy, Justyna Janisewska & Georgia Tegou
Technical Manager and Lighting Design by: Berta Pibernat Trias
SPLAT! has completed its run at Underbelly. It is touring throughout August.
