Stan does the Camden Fringe: Forwards and Backwards
14/08/2012
If you have ever seen Philip Ridley's play Tender Napalm then you will have a bit of an idea for how Forwards and Backwards is structured. Imagine the chronological narrative of a couple's relationship ripped into segments, jumbled and then telling the story in the order you randomly picked each segment.
However, unlike Tender Napalm there are no cryptic flights of fantasy. This is an even more pared down two-hander that slowly pieces together the ups and downs, tragedies and joys of the couple's relationship.
Devised by performers Katie Robinson and Michael White and apparently gleaned from conversations overheard on train journeys it is moving, witty and imaginatively done with only one wooden box and square piece of wood for props.
There is a bit of mime and a bit of physical storytelling but this certainly feels a lot calmer and more graceful than Tender Napalm. It is the verbal storytelling which really packs the punches.
As a study of the stresses and strains of keeping a modern, economy-tested relationship going - compromise, resentment, expectations, plans and dreams realised and unrealised - this is an interesting and moving piece. Katie Robinson puts in a particularly strong performance and is certainly an actress I will be looking out for in the future.
Forwards and Backwards doesn't say anything particularly new but that is OK, it's a nice, simple piece of theatre storytelling creatively done.
Catch it at Camden People's Theatre until the 18 August.
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