Browse reviews

Edinburgh Fringe 2012

50 Acts

Wendy Houston

Genre: Dance and Movement Theatre

Venue:

 Dance Base

Festival:


Low Down

Performer and Dancer Wendy Houston delivers her 50 Acts about modern nonsense, including ageism. With the occasional out burst of dance, overly dramatic and poetic projected text mixed with casual chats to the audience and direct reference to the construct of theatre (including health and safety) Wendy travels through a fragmented routine, when even the smallest gesture is an ‘Act’. 

Review

Performer and Dancer Wendy Houston delivers her 50 Acts about modern nonsense, including ageism. With the occasional out burst of dance, overly dramatic and poetic projected text mixed with casual chats to the audience and direct reference to the construct of theatre (including health and safety) Wendy travels through a fragmented routine, when even the smallest gesture is an ‘Act’.

As an experienced performer and an older woman (older being an odd word as its all relative but in the context of this piece matters) Wendy Houston walks on to stage and says ‘This is the bit when the lights go down and this is the bit when I walk to the back of the stage’ – she walks to the back of the stage and ACT 1 appears in big bold letters above her head. By using theatrical techniques but being very obvious about them and their affect Wendy creates a light hearted piece about nonsense, of which some of nonsense in important to consider and rebel against – such as ageism.

An ACT: Wendy is spinning with extreme balance and commitment; she spins for ages. The projection then shows a risk assessment on falling that scrolls across and above her. Falling, possible risks of falling, and how to deterrent this: Where a hard hat (Wendy stops spinning and grabs a hard hat to then return to spinning), where high visibility clothing (Wendy puts on a high-vis jacket and returns to spinning). She also collects a danger cone and marks out a line on the floor to create her self a safe spinning area. This interruption of a simple and beautiful action is hilarious whilst being affective in throwing open the ridiculous breadth of health and safety, particularly in the performance arena.

An ACT: Wendy Houston repeats the attempt to perform a disappearing act, by waving a black cloth over her self with the sound of a drum roll, she steps aside quickly gesturing to the empty space – TA -DA! This constant attempt to disappear is a comment on societies perception of older women, expecting them to disappear, such as of the TV. Wendy’s comical presentation of this illustrates it as nonsense.

An ACT: After smashing many records up with a hammer, Wendy takes a tape cassette and pulls the tape out, pulling it through her fingers with her eyes closed. She is some kind of medium, conjuring spirits of the future, rolling the tape through her fingers saying ‘I’m getting…I’m getting… a pension!…no….no….I’m not getting a pension.. I’m getting….I’m getting…a job….no..no…I’m not getting a job’. Each demonstrative act playfully delivers the problems with how society treats women, lets say, over 50.

Near the end of the piece recordings of David Cameron motivational speech to the country on how we are going to pull ourselves out of the economical crisis is played, whilst Wendy sits with the black cloth she has been trying to disappear with around her shoulders. David Cameron says that the answer is to live within our means – this is all well and good if your means are plenty and stable, but what impact does this have on those with little means. Wendy Houston inserts a punchy political edge to this piece, just by letting his words play, and be exposed as nonsense.

With a constant air of Mockery Wendy takes us through 50 Acts that break down the nonsense of performance, age and politics. It’s a really pleasant experience that plants some thoughts and arouses existing complaints. The show is exciting in its revelry in silly acts that can hold such potent content.

Published