More highlights from the 2017 Vaults Festival
The Vaults festival is that most daring and elusive of things: a theatre festival that launches in January, perseveres for 6 weeks, and which brings us high quality shows that consistently sell out!
My final night I took in:
- The Many Crimes of Hector Cartwright, by Kieran O’Rourke. A murder mystery that packs a lot of twists into the hour. This play investigates the murder of an anonymous woman on the train tracks in close-knit northern town after the war, and links them to events in Nazi-occupied Normandy. A tense drama peppered with wry observational humour to give dramatic range, there were occasional moments where it felt like the audience misread the mood a bit. Especially impressive were Carys Lewis, poised and wily as Constable Helen Wilton, and Jonathan Blakeley as the eponymous villain. ‘The Many Crimes…’ picked up a ‘highly commended’ at the Vaults Awards.
- Kings, by Oli Forsyth. Ebi, Bess and Hannah pool what they beg, and survive in some tents under the arches. Their precarious routine is disrupted by the arrival of shrewd and charismatic trickster Caz, who can do magic- among other things. The blurb for this play might lead you to believe that Caz was the main character; in many ways she is, and Madeleine McMahon brings a febrile equipoise to the part that’s visually and psychologically arresting- and clearly well researched. But the overriding strength of this play was the cast’s rapport, which they apply to angry and loving exploration of the many tough decisions faced by people sleeping rough. As ‘Kings’ develops and we learn about what the characters have done and will do to survive, our sympathies are dragged every which way, and like them, we have difficulty knowing who to trust. The result is a dark and compelling comedy drama in a gritty realistic style, with splashes of magic and the absurdity of everyday life. Kings swiped a well-earned Show of the Week award at the Vaults Awards later in the evening.
It was good to see Stiff and Kitsch’s ‘Adele is Younger Than Us’ (our review here) pick up a comedy award- this knowing and incisive musical comedy made me look forward to whatever they produce next. ‘Becoming Shades’ by Civaree Circus snatched an Origins Award for Outstanding New Work with their retelling of the myth of Persephone through promenade circus performances in the depths of the vaults (our review also here). In Starship Osiris, writer, director and star George Vere attempts to pilot his starship and crew through increasingly absurd scenarios- until his cast gradually turn on him, that is. Osiris also picked up a comedy award.
Also worth mentioning as it was such a hoot: in ‘The Club’ two wonderfully irredeemable night-club proprietors in the 90’s desperately attempt to escape their past bad decisions by making worse ones. A well-crafted and joke-heavy two person show- worth it for the period references and judicious use of cursing alone.
The Vault festival is six weeks of exciting, innovative theatre at The Vaults Waterloo, Leake St, SE1 7NN every year. This year ran from Jan 25th March 5th.
Reporter: David Brown
