Snails and Ketchup @ New Town Theatre

Live Review by Clare Sinclair | 05 Sep 2011

Tales of dysfunction are most often the most darkly entertaining – the tale of a dysfunctional family even more so. Ramesh Meyyappan’s Snails and Ketchup pulls into a world akin to that of a Grimm fairytale as he single-handedly projects his vivid imagination into the New Town Theatre.

Mayyappan’s one man tale is about a family of four – a boy and his twin sister, their mother and father. He plays every character in the piece –through his incredible command of his own physicality and mime – accompanied by a live score as he escapes into the forest to remove himself from the difficulties of family life.

Entering the theatre, the stage adorned with ropes, it is impossible not to be immediately captivated by Mayyappan’s presence. The tale is inspired by Italo Calvino’s The Baron in the Trees and it is in the aerial work that this piece comes into its own. With an unfamiliar storyline, there are moments where the lines blur – in a world where words and text are so often used to lead us through a tale, it can be difficult to capture attention in such a narrative-based piece without the use of words. However this is a warming performance, full of magical moments and a real gem in the Fringe calendar. 

 

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