Reykjavík tells the story of a man leaving Paris to move to Iceland with a new love, only to find they are both bound to live by the patterns of their pasts and futures. This story of a failed affair is simple, but its telling is imaginative and compelling.
After success at the Edinburgh Fringe last year and a nomination for a Total Theatre Award for Innovation, Shams has taken its installation piece on a UK tour. Blurring the boundaries between audience, performance, and space, Reykjavík is a thought-provoking sensual treat from the off. Outside the theatre the audience is met by Jonathon (the enthusiastic guide), who explains that he will be piecing together memories of his past in Reykjavík and we are part of the investigation. The audience are asked to don forensic white suits and goggles and act as the piece’s chorus. Be warned, this is a promenade performance with audience interaction, but never fear, the performer’s expertly set a relaxed and welcoming atmosphere where even the most self-conscious quickly feel part of the scenery.
Jonathon gently leads us into a sparse white space where projections, lighting, and the body itself construct the story of his Reykjavík. We are invited to act like neuroscientific historians, inspecting props as though they are specimens in a museum and wondering at their connections. Jonathon then begins his story, part reflective and enlightened, part raw and unacceptable. The area is walled by white clothes which work well both to reinforce the stark Icelandic light and in reflecting the multimedia projections. The surroundings easily shift from videos of the streets of Paris, to maps of Reykjavík, to the numerical patterns running through the protagonist’s mind.
Jonathon Young plays himself: the guide, Y: his past self manifested from memory, and all other speaking parts that appear and dissolve through the piece. Whilst there are other performers on hand who could take these parts, the solo performance reminds how personal and specific this experience is. It tells something of how we relive our memories; playing every person the way we remember them, speaking every voice the way we heard them, and only saying what resonates most with us.
The central conceit of ‘patterns’ is intertwined to great poetic effect. The patterns he unconsciously lives his life by are nestled among the patterns in the ice, the recurring I-Ching hexagram, the Sundh?llin changing rooms. It creates an inevitability that is simultaneously comforting, inescapable and disturbing and certainly lingers in the mind long after leaving the theatre.
The performance lacks the vulnerability for a cathartic engagement with the protagonist, not helped by the clinical set-up, but what it misses in emotional substance it compensates for with gallons of style and immersive theatricality. If you enjoy multimedia and physical theatre or fancy something a little more unusual than sitting in the dark facing a stage, than Reykjavík is well worth a visit.
Reykjavik is performed at:
Tues 17 May 7pm
Weds 18 – Sat 21 May 7pm & 9pm
0121 446 3232
Tues 24 & Weds 25 May 7pm
Thurs 26 - Sat 28 May 7pm & 9pm
01642 525 199
Contact Theatre, Manchester
Tues 7 – Sat 11 June 7pm & 9pm
0161 274 0600
Workshops, talks and special events around arts and science at every venue.