The Upcoming
  • Culture
    • Art
    • Cinema
      • Movie reviews
      • Film festivals
    • Food & Drinks
      • News & Features
      • Restaurant & bar reviews
      • Interviews & Recipes
    • Literature
    • Music
      • Live music
    • Theatre
    • Shows & On demand
  • Fashion & Lifestyle
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
  • What’s On
    • Art exhibitions
    • Theatre shows
  • Tickets
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Interviews
  • Competitions
  • Special events
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

CultureTheatre

A Strange Wild Song at New Diorama Theatre

A Strange Wild Song at New Diorama Theatre | Theatre review
1 March 2013
Caitlin Middleton
Avatar
Caitlin Middleton
1 March 2013

The smoke filled room is aroar with the shrieking and crashing of bombs as the audience take their seats – an unsettling opening to the night. When the lights go up, however, and three boys in babygrows clutching wooden guns invade the stage, a rather whimsical feel takes hold.

A Strange Wild Song tells the story of an American soldier who, lost in war- torn France, stumbles across three boys playing their own childish war game amongst the ruins of a deserted village. The production by Rhum and Clay Theatre Company is a wonderfully outlandish delight: the actors use movement in place of speech, engaging the audience with childish clowning, while a moving and delicate live music performance accompanies them.

What is truly amazing about these players is their use of the space. Three grown men are suddenly children, tumbling about the stage, almost becoming acrobats. The set is used as part of their game: the floor becomes the sky, a set of draws becomes an aeroplane, and, finally and poignantly, these childish toys become their refuge when the real bombs start to fall.

This is a truly spectacular and innovative piece of theatre. It grips the audience with the physicality of three clowning boys, but it is also heart wrenchingly tender when an adult soldier enters their world.

Playing with memory, imagination and the reality of war, A Strange Wild Song offers an insight into conflict through the eyes of a child. A fanciful flight of fantasy that really must be seen and cherished.

★★★★★

Caitlin Middleton

A Strange Wild Song is touring the UK until 19th March 2013. For further information or to book visit Rhum and Clay’s website here.

Related Itemsreview

More in Theatre

Live Lab at The Yard Theatre: An interview with associate director Cheryl Gallagher

Mersa Auda
Read More

We Still Fax at ANTS Theatre Online

★★★★★
Samuel Nicholls
Read More

We Ask These Questions of Everybody: An interview with Amble Skuse and Toria Banks

Mersa Auda
Read More

Public Domain at Southwark Playhouse

★★★★★
Michael Higgs
Read More

Unlimited Festival at the Southbank Centre: Centre stage for diversity

★★★★★
James Humphrey
Read More

RSC Next Generation: Young Bloods proves Shakespeare is timeless

Brooke Snowe
Read More

An interview with Ifrah Ismael: Tales from the Front Line and other stories

Selina Begum
Read More

A Livestream with David Bedella at Crazy Coqs Online

★★★★★
Regan Harle
Read More

Undercover at Morpheus Show Online

★★★★★
Michael Higgs
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap
  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • The White Tiger
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • We Still Fax at ANTS Theatre Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • We Ask These Questions of Everybody: An interview with Amble Skuse and Toria Banks
    Theatre
  • Start the year right with these eco-friendly vegan and vegetarian food deliveries
    Food & Drinks
  • Hello Cosmos – Dream Harder
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Identifying Features
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • 23 Walks
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • Live Lab at The Yard Theatre: An interview with associate director Cheryl Gallagher
    Theatre
  • We Still Fax at ANTS Theatre Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • We Ask These Questions of Everybody: An interview with Amble Skuse and Toria Banks
    Theatre
  • Identifying Features
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • We Still Fax at ANTS Theatre Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • WandaVision: Marvel’s charming sitcom proves an astounding success
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • The Queen’s Gambit: A chess story that’s not about the moves but the motives
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • Undercover at Morpheus Show Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

Hot Property at Etcetera Theatre | Theatre review
Colla, Pinna, Pomodoro at the Ronchini Gallery | Exhibition review