The first Nicola Gunn show I saw a few years ago changed not only the way I looked at theatre but how I saw the world around me in general. So her latest work with Sans Hotel had me filled with expectant promise. It sets out to fix the issues posed by the human race and highlight the inherent problems of our impermanent existence. Using the forum of “theatre”, five performers were going to solve the world’s problems. Spoiler alert: they didn’t. But that’s the thing with grand aspirations: it’s easy to talk about making a difference but at the end of the day talk is just talk.
What Green Screen presents is a discourse on humanity itself, our differences and our shared values. The brilliant hand of Nicola Gunn brings all of this together in a quirky, often funny, occasionally absurd contemporary performance piece. We start with a series of solo vignettes from Nicola, before she piles up a dozen inflatable mattresses and balances precariously, watching over a banal (but still engaging) conversation between four young people who’ve come together to protest the extinction of the human race. No protest happens, no discussion of world issues ensues, but humanity itself is highlighted in a light, quirky contemporary performance.
MTC, Lawler to 3 Aug
