The Dark Fantastic - Dark and twisted... but in a good way!
We appropriately begin in the dark listening to a voice. This voice reels you in, it requires your attention because it is the only sound you hear and it creates images that are vivid and unique. And you find yourself slipping into a world of this voice.
Slowly the lights come up first in silhouette then finally you see the face of the voice. His story unfolding sometimes in a way which is not unlike the feeling of not being able to look away when looking at a festering sore or a car accident when you drive by. You know it's your dark and twisted side that is engaged but you can't help yourself. Perhaps on another day in different circumstances you would stand upright morally superior and resist but today in the dark you give over to this journey and sit for awhile as your dark side is engaged and entertained. Grinning from ear to ear as you listen.
The actor doesn't move he sits and talks, using his hands to tell the story, and over the course of this journey his hands become like puppets they talk, they support his story and create the visual images, providing specificity and action to an otherwise static environment. So, the hands like the voice become and entity unto themselves.
Clearly this is not Mr. Dockery's first kick at the can, he is a seasoned Fringer and it comes through in spades. From the get go you know you are in good hands and will be taken on a journey, the likes of which may challenge you but will certainly entertain you, as you laugh out loud at the sick and twisted, experience empathy for a person that on that other day, you probably would resist.
The playwright has a great command of language and he uses it in a playful and unique way to spins his tale, weaving in and out of puns, metaphors, alliteration to great effect. He succeeds where others fail, because he is a skilled writer and with ease utilizes the tools of language to support his story with style and tone.
If you like to engage your dark and twisted side, go see this one.