In one of my first weeks at university, students were invited to see Method In Madness, Entita Theatre's physical theatre re-imagining of Hamlet. The concept itself was enough to excite me, and I was anything but disappointed. Method In Madness was slick, atmospheric and impressed me so much that it was one of the first things I wrote about on this blog!
Flash forward and just over half a year later Entita invited students to yet another one of their fantastically original shows, Fall. Set in a the offices of a city trading company, Fall is a tension filled physical theatre piece, inspired this time by Macbeth.
Yet again, I found myself blown away by the physical theatre. The performers seemed almost weightless as they traveled around the space. Clearly there is an abundance of skill within the cast. The physical theatre, which looked hugely ambitious, was pulled off with ease. I was honestly on the edge of my seat for the whole show. Every miniscule look and movement was carefully orchestrated and the performances were polished and precise.
There were a number of highly memorable scenes, but my personal favourite was the way in which Duncan, who was re-imagined as the boss of the trading company, was dispatched. The whole scene was so tense and even though I'm certain almost everyone at least knows the basic plot of Macbeth, the scene was filled with suspense and ended with one of the most spine tingleingly good scenes I've seen in a long time. I also loved the way which the witches were portrayed as reminiscent of office gossips loitering around the water dispenser, and the way in which the ghosts were brought back in the finale was particularly striking. The only part in which I felt the physical theatre could have perhaps been a little bit clearer was during the downfall of the Lady Macbeth character, but in the grand scheme of things the nature of her demise seemed fitting.
Overall, Fall was an incrediblely original play which I would see again without a second thought. Fortunately, after it's work in progress runs, Entita will be taking it, along with Method In Madness, to the IYAF, and then the Edinburgh Fringe this summer too (and are currently fundraising for this via gofundme). If you are planning on going to either of these festivals then I can't recommend both of these plays enough!