We Think Not: Karl Jay-Lewin & Anushiye Yarnell

This is the kind of  Zen koan that came to mind watching We Think Not. These are two different  works of  great interiority.  I felt like I was watching a monk or nun meditating. So much happening on the inside, so little visible. There is a disconnect, as if  autistics were  repeating ritualistic but largely incomprehensible movements with intense concentration.

Jay-Lewin has a wistful expression, occasionally muttering to himself. A suitcase suggesting a journey and thank God, for his plastic pale blue and white winkle-picker shoes, which gave me a clue that we were allowed to laugh.  His performance was reminiscent of East European surrealism or Jacques Tati, or the soulful eyes of Buster Keaton.

Yarnell's act is upstaged by the appearance of her 7 month-year old baby, who plays,  delighting in rolling on her mother, or  grabbing a swinging bell.  So where does that leave the audience?  Some are exasperated.  On the day I was there, the majority were smiling, if somewhat bemusedly. Or  perhaps you will be intrigued to find out more about Deborah Hay's  'Practice' which informs these works but also is a way of life.