Edinburgh Fringe 2013
Low Down
Hunt & Darton present a lively exploration into the highs and lows of being bored. Embrace, combat or simply acknowledge it, boredom is part of us. Expect new moves, leggings, laughter and you do it bits. We are far from bored about this. In fact, we are excited. Hunt & Darton are a live art collaboration between Jenny Hunt and Holly Darton, creators of Hunt & Darton Cafe that took the Fringe by storm last year. ‘Holly Darton and Jenny Hunt are wowing the Fringe’ (Observer). Hunt & Darton have presented work at Tate Britain and Brighton International Festival.
Review
Hunt and Darton present Boredom – a live art piece in their own live art café – an exploration of what it means to be bored. Boredom blends multimedia with story-telling and performance art method to create an act with a different pace. Attempting at times to recreate the strangeness of being bored for the audience, Hunt and Darton’s Boredom is a compilation of sequences; collectively bizarre, funny, and thoughtful.
The two artists bring an energy and intelligence, a likeable stage partnership and engaging personas. Boredom is delivered with wry control – deliberately containing the oomph and humour. Visually, Hunt and Darton decided to douse the stage and themselves in leopard print – a stimulating, non-boring print.
The audience was packed, rowdy and eager to laugh. Their liveliness rose with each denial from Hunt and Darton building to almost hysterical laughter at points when silence and absence reigned on stage. This dynamic is very enjoyable and is testament to the performers’ skill in creating atmosphere.
Boredom toyed with the audiences’ curiosity and expectation, particularly in the repeated sequence with which they ended the show. They are precise performers with a great sense of timing.
The audience were also actively involved in the piece, beginning Boredom by reading from cue-cards, which reappeared when volunteers entered the stage where they performed a mundane scripted conversation. The repeated involvement of the audience created a pleasant community in the performance space; we also had some ownership over the performance.
Boredom leaves the audience contemplating the fullness of the mind and its inherent creativity. You will find something to get excited about. The modern day concept of boredom, the ‘fourteen year-old boy without his Xbox’ is revealed to be nothing but a fleeting emotion. Once the instant stream of gratification around us has been switched off, we can be just as excited by the play of light on a wall or a small collection of pigs.
Theatre is the perfect medium to explore these thoughts – in front of a captive audience who can’t switch channels or check their phones. We are constantly analyzing the sparse amount presented to us and therefore cannot be bored.Can we?
Show Website
http://www.huntanddarton.com
