Tuesday 18th until Saturday 22nd May 2010 @ Secret Location, Bristol
Showing as part of Mayfest 2010, Bristol’s festival of contemporary theatre

SS Arcadia is a no-expense-spared cruise liner for an audience of 40 or so passengers; an immersive, promenade performance brought to you by Stand And Stare Collective. All aboard for a floating, timeless, dream voyage where luxury comes as standard.

Set in an abandoned sandwich shop on Park Street, its five mazy floors of mayhem contained a dazzlingly array of entertainment and intrigue that you could wander around and enjoy at your own pace. There was a casino, a salon, an infirmary, a kitchen, a dining lounge, the captain’s quarters, a top deck, a cocktail lounge, a swimming pool and a seedy hull, and they were all brought to life with a dizzying mass of colourful characters. You’ll get out as much as you put in so if you’re up for it, a fantastically fun evening awaits. Within 10 minutes of setting sail, I had been gambling, shown some magic, was given a make-over, sipped a cocktail and tried my hand at synchronised swimming – imagine what I got up to with an hour and a half! There was a remarkable amount of stuff going on and every time I was just starting to think this cruise was running out of steam, I would turn a corner to be confronted by some new crazy, hilarious or touching scenario.

The ship and all its characters were grounded in no specific period, style or place in the world: Fitness instructors were sailing alongside stowaways, and tacky, light-entertainers would minutes late be followed by gritty, sweaty fist fights in the dark. This timelessness was a potent and curious mix and it really got your mind wondering about the wider escapist role of the journey you were on. These themes eventually become brutally apparent for all during a dark concluding scene that was commendably brave and you realised in fact just how cerebral some of the seeming nonsense you witness earlier actually was – eg. the Batman & Robin chases, little Peter being constantly castrated by his mother, and a Captain who slowly capitulated to drink and excess. It was undoubtedly a powerful and emotive ending but the swing from silly to serious was a little too sudden for few audience members to digest and they didn’t know whether to laugh or cry as our protagonist burst out of the hull onto the pavement to break the dream we had all been living in.

www.mayfestbristol.co.uk

Matthew Whittle www.matthewwhittleblog.blogspot.com