Torchlight tales spark imagination
Bedroom Stories, Fergus Rougier, Sir John Mills Theatre, Pulse Fringe Festival, Ipswich, June 9.Despite a low key, unpromising start this show really took off as three “dream” stories were told by Rougier - in words and very imaginative movement.
David Green
Bedroom Stories, Fergus Rougier, Sir John Mills Theatre, Pulse Fringe Festival, Ipswich, June 9.
Despite a low key, unpromising start this show really took off as three “dream” stories were told by Rougier - in words and very imaginative movement.
A tale of a cow which escapes from an abattoir was set out using a hand-held light which created a ghostly storyteller.
But the most dramatic episode involved a love affair and a forced meeting with the partner's ex-boyfriend. Here, Rougier was at his most energetic, bursting with ideas in a dance which was at times spellbinding.
That all followed a slow-paced start in a leisurely and obscure story about a man and his shadow.
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Inventiveness is the performer's aim in devising ways of communicating a narrative by relying heavily on movement and facial expression and also music, most of it delivered by the PA system and very upbeat and penetrating. However, there was also a pretty melody on this multi-talented performer's accordion.
Actor, musician, dancer and dramatist; Rougier is all of these and more. But the show did not really hang comfortably together as a single piece of work.
He changed costume on stage, deliberately distancing the act from the actor, but these breaks may be better performed with some style - using another part of his incredibly vivid imagination.
David Green
