Verdict: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (reviewed Wednesday 11 December)
The Other Theatre company blew us away in 2023 with their production of From Morning to Midnight, a play influenced by German expressionism. Their latest project, The Pigeons, presents another beautifully surreal existentialist dilemma, written by contemporary German playwright David Gieselmann.
The Pigeons is a satirical soap opera about the social constructs that lead to imprisonment of the soul. During a raucous office Christmas party, we see characters desperate to escape their environment. Holger Voss is imploding with the stress of his job, repeatedly slamming his head against his laptop. His wife, Natalie Voss, is angry all the time and yearns for some kind of release. The company’s owner Robert Bertrand, is vocal about wanting to disappear into oblivion, while his suffering wife Gerlinde Bertrand wants to escape to a leisurely life in Italy. With these opposing and conflicting needs, where sacrifice and pain are inevitable, insanity erupts.
Holger Voss confides to the company’s psychiatrist, Dr Erich Asendorf, that he is being bullied by everyone, sharing plenty of anecdotal evidence of being sabotaged. But when he learns his wife is having an affair with the psychiatrist, he still consults him for marriage advice. Meanwhile, Robert Bertrand assumes a persona of his half-brother, Francois Bertrand, in order to confuse everyone while making his grand escape.
The reference to pigeons become a motif for freedom, a panicked desire to break free and regain space and individuality in a relentless conformist dog-eat-dog world bereft of genuine human connection and authenticity. During the performance I recalled that the brilliant Nikola Tesla, dashing and handsome in his day, was reduced to an impoverished old man that would allow pigeons to poop all over his hotel room.
The Pigeons is a stylised representation of high anxiety when individuality and freedom is stifled. Sometimes you feel paranoid that the whole world is conspiring against you, or that the walls are crushing in on you, or that the person you married to is a major disappointment or they will run off with someone else. Sometimes it feels like no-one believes you, and you are going crazy when people point and say “see?! It’s all in your head!”
Director / Producer Eugene Lynch and set designer Lochie Odgers creates this stifling, chaotic atmosphere both symbolically and literally (such as keeping the curtains draped over the ‘cage’ in moments of suspense). The filing cabinets at either end of the stage also gradually squeeze together, so that the audience cannot see the full cohort of actors shouting at each other.
The Pigeons is a departure from the conventional narratives we’ve seen presented at KxT Bakehouse. But the actors are completely trusting of the director’s vision, throwing themselves with abandon into their roles, eschewing any limitations of being ‘pigeon-holed’ (sorry couldn’t resist). Lib Campbell is always fierce and commanding with her firecracker delivery as the angry, horny wife. Mark Langham goes from being a quiet, exasperated old man to a mysterious, avant-garde character with a sinister motive, flipping between the two roles in the blink of an eye. Kandice Joy is the office b!tch, a cat amongst the pigeons. Kath Gordon is our ripe mumma Italophile, melting with lust for adventure. Tel Benjamin is the incompetent and sleazy psychiatrist with a comically long tie (a bit like Pinocchio’s nose as a symbol of dishonesty). Andrew Lindqvist represents the everyday man suffering from pressure to perform in a toxic work environment.
The scenes are over the top, wild and surreal, but the narrative is freshly presented in a form that is highly artistic and innovative.
The Pigeons is playing at KxT Bakehouse until 21 December. For tickets and showtimes, go to https://www.kingsxtheatre.com/the-pigeons
CREDITS
CAST
Kath Gordon – Gerlinde Bertrand
Mark Langham – Robert / Francois Bertrand
Jackson Hurwood – Helmar Bertrand
Lib Campbell – Natalie Voss
Andrew Lindqvist – Holger Voss
Tel Benjamin – Dr. Erich Asendorf
Kandice Joy – Heidrun / Libgart Reichert
Micaela Ellis – Silja van der Vries
Dominic Lui – Priest, Phone and others
Helena Cielak – Cover
CREATIVES AND CREW
Eugene Lynch – Director/ Producer
Lochie Odgers – Set Designer
Lily Mateljan – Costume Designer
Cassidy McDermott-Smith – Choreographer/ Movement Director
Topaz Marlay-Cole – Lighting Designer
Christine Pan – Composer / Sound Designer
Aaron Ronalds – Dramaturg
Luke Visentin – Assistant Director
Spark Sanders Robinson – Assistant Director
Madee Osborn – Intimacy Consultant
Patrick Klavins – Voice & Text Coach
Atlas Andrews – Stage Management
Lara Kyriazis – Assistant Stage Manager
Sam Scott – LX Programmer
Joshua Abbott – Construction Manager
Angus Nott – Carpenter
Jason Jefferies – Producer
Kandice Joy – Producer
Supported by The Blake Beckett Trust, the Seaborn, Broughton & Walford Foundation, NIDA,
bAKEHOUSE Theatre Company, Bridget Habrecht
IMAGES
Hero Images: Dominic Lui
Production Stills: Justin Cueno
Rehearsal Images: Jason Jefferies