photo by Perou
I went to see Dirty Wonderland last night, the latest work from Frantic Assembly which has been commissioned especially for this year's Brighton festival. It's a site-specific piece of theatre housed in Saltdean's vacant Grand Ocean Hotel, a magnificent old Art Deco building which closed its doors to the public in December. The show begins with an amusingly-guided bus journey out to the venue where we're assigned the roles of prospective investors visiting the hotel during its final days of operation. On entering the lobby we meet a young couple, Alex (Joseph Traynor) and Rachel (Imogen Knight), who've arrived to spend a dirty weekend in the hotel. The pair are separated and we follow Alex as he roams the different floors of the hotel looking for Rachel. As our journey progresses we're introduced to all manner of hotel staff including the morose Manager, his bullying assistant, a seductive chambermaid, a down-trodden porter and the foul-mouthed chef. Each character has their own role to play as the drama unfolds and we're treated to an hour of fantastic drama and performance which veers from comedy and eroticism, right through to confusion, madness and despair. The use of the hotel is amazing as you find yourself rushing down narrow corridors to tiny bedrooms, then contrasting with scenes inside the lavish lounges and grand ballroom for the finale. The whole cast are exceptional and the drama is complemented by a terrific soundtrack from Goldfrapp - moving from the haunting opening of Lovely Head, through the thumping bass of Strict Machine, and climaxing with the beautiful Utopia. An outstanding piece of original theatre and absolutely unmissable!
You can check out some of the other glowing reviews from the national press here:
No comments:
Post a Comment