No-Show

I am working/helping out on a show at the moment called 'No-Show.' It is a great illustration of creativity and how from something that doesn't quite realise itself can be the gestation for something quite different but equally worthwhile and awesome. It is a one-man written/directed/performed show by Richard Pettifer about a show that hasn't quite worked out. This is of course serious and dramatic but also frequently hilarious at points. At times he is trying to recreate the play, at others discussing the rehearsals at others performing and or enacting events. So at one really scrumptious point the performer is playing a director playing an actor playing a character. Layers? It's a veritable onion. Or cake! Complete with clowns. Metatheatre = tick. It really is incredibly clever and intricate and all the more powerful as it is based on recent events.

On the blog No-Show Richard has been tracking the progress of Smudge (the play No-Show is about) and No-Show. It is interesting that in the side bar he has described his performance as the "futile and hopeless end" to the process. It's an interesting statement, because although the show can be seen to explore the idea of failure, ultimately it is now "futile" or "hopeless" because it is great theatre. No, wait, Great Theatre. Captial letters included free of charge.

So you might view this show as a bit of a wallow but really blog nation it is a celebration. Of theatre. Show or No-Show the show must go on.

Tickets available through the La Mama website. 9th-12 Feb!