Review: I, Peaseblossom / I, Caliban @ Sherman
Sherman Cymru, Cardiff
Thursday 6th March 2014
I have to admit, I went into last night’s double bill performance of I, Peaseblossom and I, Caliban slightly lacking in terms of energy. My usual walk down towards the Sherman was a real headphones in/world out affair; it was going to be hard for anyone to generate any enthusiasm from me.
Not for Jimmy Whiteaker.
Walking into the first half of the performance I took a now customary front row seat in Theatre 2. I find no one wants to sit in the front row for fear of audience participation, here those fears were most certainly justified, but being a few rows back won’t save you. If you’re in the room, you’re in the play.
Both pieces being written by Tim Crouch (who also often plays the parts), the recurring fluidity and ease of watching his work becomes apparent. Having now seen two of Crouch’s works (he has also written several others in a similar vein; I, Banquo, I, Malvolio etc.), it seems to me that his plays really come alive when performed with the freedom to improvise and interact with an audience, which is something that Whiteaker does perfectly.
I feel that although billed as one performance (both characters portrayed by Whiteaker) and impossible to regard to one without reference to the other, I should at least try to review each performance separately. Here goes.
I, Caliban
Set effectively against the black surroundings of Theatre 2 using a large circular sand coloured mat with various items strewn across it (e.g. cassette player, chess board, figurines made from flotsam and jetsam), Caliban paces frustrated and lonely in his solitude.
I, Caliban is a play which fluctuates sharply between inflicting side-splitting hilarity and introspective sadness (a formula which works oh so well).
Opening with the line "You’re so beautiful!" individually to many members of the audience, swiftly followed by "I’m ugly", we were immediately won over and committed to hearing Caliban’s case.
For the most part, the play follows a retrospective view of Caliban’s life and the events of The Tempest. To hear an account of The Tempest from the view of such a helpless player in the game as Caliban, makes for a much more interesting story.
Caliban bears a slight Gollum-like attitude towards life, a character largely considered not to be a ‘good-guy’ but in fact has done nothing more than you would expect of someone in his situation. He tells us jokes in good spirits before his smile splits and becomes deadly serious, the duality of his mind and the way he plays with his self-made figurines (much like Wilson in Cast Away) reflects someone who has spent most of his life completely and helplessly lonely.
Among my favourite moments in the play were the re-enactment of The Tempest itself (which involved a bucket of water and a vast majority of the audience) and the exceedingly creative use of three elastic bands underpinned with the line "Am I ugly now?!"
I, Caliban reaches its emotional pinnacle with Caliban stood on a box holding a suitcase and a life jacket calling to Prospero and the others on the boat to take him with them.
"I’m ready to go now!
I found myself leaving the first half having laughed and laughed but also having a real, genuine emotive response to Caliban as I never thought I would.
I’m still not sure how he did it.
I, Peaseblossom
Returning to the theatre to find a change of set, confetti strewn around and name tags scattered, Peaseblossom is ticking off a checklist.
He explains to us that he is to bless everything before he goes to bed and so proceeds to bless my salmon-coloured trousers (a feature of mine he would refer to many times before the show finishes) and then "Bless your murderous cackle" to the woman three rows back who found Whiteaker’s performance too hilarious to contain.
Peaseblossom also reminisces back over the events of his play (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), however with generous doses of anxiety mixed in this time.
The play is structured through a set of ‘dreams’ announced by the audience (he recruited two fellow front row sitters; Pete and Cecil to hold his game show style placards).
Peaseblossom felt more to be an out-and-out comedy than Caliban’s piece did, with an even more developed audience participation element. The name tags from the stage with the key characters of A Midsummer Night’s Dream were placed on various audience members who then had to ‘play’ that character for the rest of the show.
You would expect that this may turn out badly given the nature of audience participation, however Whiteaker had taken everyone so far out of the usual parameters of comfort that we had all begun to relish in the idea of being the one chosen.
Using all the common tropes associated with the play such as the ‘Love Juice’ to hilarious effect (Peaseblossom took a particular liking to a Mrs Allie Dickinson in the row behind me and made clever off-the-cuff references back to audience specific moments that appeared effortless).
Put simply, I’ve never been to see anything comparable in terms of audience inclusion and sheer hysterical humour.
My only regret is that today is its final day at Sherman Cymru as I’m desperate to see it again.
If there is any chance you can see it before it goes or anywhere for that matter, go and see it
You won’t regret it.
I, Peaseblossom/I, Caliban were written by Tim Crouch, presented by Company of Angels and performed by Jimmy Whiteaker.
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