Crybabies: Danger Brigade, Soho Theatre - ★★★★ - Until January 11, 2020


We weren't sure what to expect and now we're still debating what we saw. We agree, however, that this was a highly entertaining theatrical experience and not like anything we've seen before. It is absurdist theatre at its best: funny, thought-provoking and a little bewildering. The narrative is more or less set in World War II and there is a story dealing with more Daddy issues than Sylvia Plath, but that barely scratches the surface. The danger brigade take on a Nazi plot in a plot line so complicated we're not sure we always followed it, but it certainly led us on an amusing romp. The humour came out of dreadful puns, absurd situations and objects that had personalities. The pace is literally mind-boggling and the three actors are quite mesmerising as they take on various characters becoming everything from mad Nazi scientists to pregnant tables to children accidentally used as footballs. The cast's timing is inspired and one's mind never wanders as we are confronted by one logical absurdity after another. The madness is presented with such utter conviction that it all works in the moment. This is the opposite of Samuel Beckett who minimised space and stretched time to make us question the human condition. Here time is made to fly and is surfeit with incident. Memory, the WW II frame and the present are interwoven while space becomes as elastic as the range of characters presented. Through it all, however, we are given the promise that we could grasp an elusive, if inane, ordering of experience if we could just keep up. Whether it's Samuel Beckett on speed or just a lot of silly fun, don't miss this unique theatrical experience.

 Reviewed by J.C.

  Our Score:  ☆☆☆☆ 

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 WHEN, WHERE, GETTING THERE:
Until January 11, 2020
Mon - Sat: 7:15 pm
Soho Theatre
Nearest tube: Tottenham Court Road
https://sohotheatre.com/shows/crybabies-danger-brigade/
Map & Location: 21 Dean St, Soho, London W1D 3NE, UK

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