ABSOLUT Fringe 2012 | Jimmy Stewart, An Anthropologist from Mars, Analyses Love and Happiness in Humans (and Rabbits) / 30 Cecil Street | Tassos Stevens / Dan Canham

Star Rating: 4/5

Venue: Samuel Beckett Theatre – Space 2
Review by: Una McMahon

ABSOLUT(ely): Clever, provocative and lovely
In a nutshell: Two pieces challenge our perceptions of love and memory
Best for: Anyone needing a gentle end to their day
Not for: The bitter

Citizens of earth! You are about to take part in an experiment with Jimmy Stewart, an anthropologist from Mars, on a quest to discover love.

This is what love looks like to someone with no conception of it, in all its absurdity, oddity and frailty. Tassos Stevens’ genius piece picks apart the language of love, as sincere as it is occasionally clichéd. A synaesthetic sound system provides surprisingly effective support, and a little help from Planet Earth ensures the novelty of each performance. Gentle, funny, inspired.

The second part of the double bill, 30 Cecil Street, is an innovative piece of dance theatre written and performed by Dan Canham. To a soundtrack of voice and song, the former Athenaeum in Limerick slowly comes to life before our eyes and Canham’s journey is respectful and moving: both homage to, and longing for, another, more innocent time. It is a wonderful piece of physical storytelling which summons ghosts and challenges our ideas of memory.

Both pieces rely on our imagination to fill in the blanks, and although they took a little while to get going, they both left me wishing they were longer.

Story by EI Team | 09:00 | Wednesday 19th September 2012 | Theatre

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