REVIEW
THE ANARCHY [1138-53]
A memorable scene between Jodie (Billy Crystal) and his mother Jessica (Katherine Helmond) in Soap – the Schitt’s Creek of the late 20th century – has Jodie telling Jessica he’s gay. She is wide-eyed and disbelieving. Jodie says that “lots of famous people” are gay. “Noooo….!” She says, “Really?” “Yep,” confirms Jodie. “Like who?” Asks Jessica. Jodie thinks for a moment, then says, “Well, Plato was gay.” Jessica’s eyes are like saucers. “Noooo! Mickey Mouse’s dog was gay?”
The thing is, the Manderson-Galvins – Tobias and Kerith, the creative juice behind The Anarchy (1138-53), entice potential audiences to the show by declaring it to be “antitheatrical”, and the first recorded proponent of antitheatricality was Plato. Nevertheless, the old Greek had about as much to do with Mickey Mouse as The Anarchy (1138-53) has to do with anything much, particularly if you’re bourgeois enough to pay money and invest time in the hope of being entertained and/or enlightened, and/or scared witless, and/or shocked rigid. None of these sensations occurs during the promised 95, but 140 minutes of interminability.
There is possibly something interesting to be written and performed on the topic of the Anarchy of 1138-53, although it was more a civil war than anything else. Still, as there are a few jokes about 90s video games and, I think, a bit of Chaucer obscured by the bellowing, ranting, and ill-remembered and poorly delivered text, it’s hard to say. What they do say – in the blurb – is as follows:
“Arrows will whiz through the theatre” – no, they do not. Actors will be climbing a siege tower” – no, they do not. They will be “attempting necromancy” – really? When? There will be “crashing through castle walls” – no, never happened. And “galloping on hobby horses” – nope. No galloping. No hobby horses. Centaurs are promised. No centaurs.
“Centaurs are promised. No Centaurs.”
It’s described as “part shocking anticomedy…” – um, definitely not shocking, kinda sorta anticomedy though as only one woman laughed – throughout – in the classic claque-ish high-pitched silly titter. “…Part historical folk-horror” -okay, history is vaguely discernible, folk-horror? Not so much. “…part pagan ritual – no, that claim is an insult to Midsomer Murders, where they do folk horror and pagan ritual that’s truly anticomedic. And finally, it was “…part psychedelic experiment” – oh please. It was not. Don’t be silly.
“Dont be silly”
Yet they go on: “KXT-on-Broadway Theatre is transformed into a brutal and deadly jousting arena.” Brutal on the bum, maybe. “An arrow whizzes through the theatre.” No whizzing arrows, quite a lot of dry ice though. “Actors are climbing a siege tower…” No siege tower, even metaphorical. “…Crashing through castle walls…” No walls, no crashing. Three cups of cordial and a tea are offered to hapless audients, however.
According to quoted reviews from Daily Review of a past Doppelgangster show, their work is “wildly experimental”, while an earlier version of this one is also described as “wildly experimental”, again attributed to Daily Review. It suggests a curious economy of imagination, but also little understanding of either “wild” or “experimental”, or a writer only recently out of school.
Yet the irritating thing about The Anarchy is how old-fashioned it is, when it seems the creators believe it to be, ahem, wildly experimental, or avant-garde, even, god help us. Derriere garde more like, and not even as interesting as that, although the soundscape by Pat Fielding is electronic, abstract, and good.