David Leddy's Untitled Love Story @ St George's West

Meditate through theatre

Feature by Clare Sinclair | 26 Aug 2011

The act of theatre has been around almost as long as the art of story, evolving with the years but remaining essentially the same. As the technological age comes upon us, however, there’s a growing need for theatre-makers to play with the form, adding new elements to keep it fresh for attention spans shortened by television and the instant gratification of the internet.

David Leddy has always been at the forefront of melding new techniques into his performances – the highly revered Sub Rosa with its tour of secret theatre spaces, and this year with Untitled Love Story, Leddy brings meditation together with story.

Leddy uses meditation to attempt to bring each member of the audience into the narrative, using their emotions and feelings to make them  the fifth member of the cast. This is an attempt at non confrontational  immersive theatre, but once the novelty has worn off it serves only to distance the audience from the stories.

We are told of four individuals in the same place but in four different decades: a priest accused of heresy, a jilted writer, an art historian troubled with night sweats and an art collector with a taste for the decadent. Each story could be emotive, but we don’t get enough insight into them and are left wanting. Visually stunning, but not quite enough theatre.

Until 29 Aug, 18.00

St. George's West

http://www.davidleddy.com