Gilded Balloon Teviot

Aug 5th-29th (16.15)

£10

Script:  Stagecraft:   Performance: 

Among the international fare that slaps itself down upon the plates & palettes of the arts-discerning punter each year, the Canadians always like to send in their own representatives of the commonwealth of culture. Of these, last year, Rebecca Perry made her ‘Confessions’ to us all from the coffeeshop she was working at, an Orwellian trip through her imagination that saw her romancing several dream-guys & contacting the renowned primatologist, Jane Goodall. This time round, we follow her ‘Adventures’ to Tanzania, & the very chimp-sanctuary ran by Goodall, where Perry monologues, sings & acts out conversations with an ever-growing confidence in her craft. She’s good, & farming her own peculiar muse over the past 12 months has earned her a bumper crop this time round.

So what is it about this show that is so appealing. Well, its just so bloody unique. I’d love to find out more about Perry’s youth, but one gets the feeling she was an only child, who spent acres of time alone in her room making up stories with her dolls. A couple of decades later those stories – or the maturer versions – are reaching our ears, & I think the world is a better place for it. Again, I’m not sure why, but the sheer joy that Perry beams when singing her songs – which are, by the way, more soulful & of a better elf-dust than last years’ – or frolicking through her multi-accented characters, must be the key somewhere. Experiencing Perry’s creation is like watching a slightly tipsy professional chef whipping a quick wonder up with whatever ingredients are to hand. Proper tasty, & you don’t quite know how they pulled it off.

Reviewer : Damian Beeson Bullen