Wednesday 19th until Saturday 22nd May 2010 @ Harbourside, Bristol
Showing as part of Mayfest 2010, Bristol’s festival of contemporary theatre

Electric Hotel is the flagship event for this year’s Mayfest. A collaboration between the festival, Fuel and Arnolfini, it’s Mayfest’s most ambitious and high profile event ever and, as its imagery adorns the front of all this year’s publicity, you would have done well to have missed it so far. Given such as grand billing then, can Electric Hotel live up to the hype?

Promised as the biggest and best thing at Mayfest 2010, we can undoubtedly say that it is the biggest – they’ve constructed an actual four-storey building opposite Arnolfini for Christ’s sake! – but the best? A euphoric answering of ‘Yes!’ echoes around the harbour. This year’s festival isn’t quite over yet but shows are going to have to do something pretty spectacular to top this one for utterly invigorating watching and complete, enraptured enjoyment.

The aforementioned four-storey structure is a mock hotel. Dilapidated and out-of-date, it sits proudly on the edge of the harbour looming over the audience as they take their seats beneath it in the open air. The front of the hotel has clear windows stretching floor to ceiling giving the crowd a prefect view inside and, combined with music, sound effects and dialogue being relayed into headsets each audience member wears, it’s a unique and privileged experience.

What’s the show about? I couldn’t tell you; that’s not really the point. We just watch and listen to the hotel’s residents as characters play, work, argue and embrace, playing the part of voyeur as relationships and events slowly unravel. Every person can take from it as much or a little as they want. Just be content that Electric Hotel’s rich combination of superb music and stunning dance is beautiful, sexy, unsettling, intelligent, intriguing and very, very stylish.

The novelty of being outside adds so much to the performance too. The designer’s have carefully coincided the start times with Bristol’s twilight hour and you couldn’t ask for a better lighting display. Other things like the sky itself, trees, surrounding people and seagulls flying overheard become part of the performance too and combine wonderfully in the creation of a show that is huge in every sense of the word. Although tickets are dear, it’s well worth it because you won’t see anything as rich, dense and captivating as Electric Hotel for a long, long time.

www.mayfestbristol.co.uk

Matthew Whittle www.matthewwhittleblog.blogspot.com