Icarus 2.0 Review

Icarus 2.0 is the latest offering from Fringe First winning pair Sebastian Lawson and Jamie Wood. It's a complex, curious tale:a hybrid story combining a Promethean warning about the dangers of playing God with an exploration of the father-son dynamic. It follows a geneticist growing his child in a jar in the hope that his scientifically endowed ability to fly will allow them both to escape the confines of an oppressive society.

But this fierce paternal love only serves to construct its own physical and emotional labyrinth within which both characters become trapped. The pair’s isolation is continuously disrupted by intrusions from the outside world, constantly provoking the two, pushing them further towards their goal. Effective use of movement and a small stage space work to create this feeling of imprisonment.

Lawson and Wood successfully create a poignant tension that demonstrates their characters' co-dependence: on the one hand, a son’s need for his father's affection and on the other, an adult who projects his personal ambitions onto an unwilling child. During this process of introjection, boundaries blur and roles reverse as the development of individual consciousness fails. At times, this sits uncomfortably, and ambitious transformations of character are made too quickly.

Icarus 2.0 examines the dangers of power, inferring that fatherly control can be equated with social engineering fuelled by the use of science and technology. Lawson and Wood suggest the imprudent use of science to overcome human inadequacies can only lead to tragedy. It's not an original point, but it is one that is very well made.

Read our preview for Icarus 2.0 at Fringe