Artus @ CCA

A tableau of mini events take place in the cafe of the CCA, as Artus sift in and out of the space performing ‘table societies’, choosing to engage or ignore the audience. A wonderful beginning with the audience slow to realise the performance has ‘started’, two members of the cast spread aluminium foil on each other’s faces and then snog, whilst another performer searches diligently for the perfect live image to go in her frame – from one’s discarded wine glass to a carefully constructed pair of audience bodies.

The work is neither dance nor theatre nor performance, though each moment or mini event may contain one or any of these. The audience may be invited to engage – most notably a performer asking them to screw up balls of paper to then be thrown at her as she attempts to quell her need to dance whilst on a tabletop. Or the audience may be just voyeurs during intense performer moments – the construction of an installation of what could be slices of bread pushed onto wooden spikes one at a time.

A brilliant tactile moment involves two men having a conversation only with their hands – amongst piles of dirt in front of them on the table. They gesticulate wildly, dirt flying and ending up scattered on the floor. They are joined by the aforementioned balls of paper and drips of wax from an incredible closing moment. She staggers the breadth of the cafe with a walking stick, her upper body bent backwards to balance two lit tealight candles in her eyes. The candles remain ignited the whole way, the wax cascading down her cheeks as she struggles to maintain their equilibrium. Eventually she comes to a standstill, raising her head slowly to keep the candles in place. The audience marvels at the burning eyeball effect this has, with some horrified at the danger of her journey.

This is what the audience is ultimately left with: a series of bizarre, powerful or beautiful images.