Marelle at Canada Water Culture Space

“What if it was said, for definite, that every person has a big story planned for them, and that our job here on earth is simply to work out how that story goes?” – this is the question that the Isthmus Project poses in their latest work Marelle (French for hopscotch), a work-in-progress production launching in the midst of East London at Canada Water Culture Space.

For the characters of Marelle, we learn a fear of death had “confined them to perpetuity” – heaven was far from where they remained, dwelling in their own regret, longing and unfulfilled desire. Annie, a young woman suffocated by her mother’s overbearing nature, longed to open her own restaurant but was trapped by circumstance and desperately sought a father figure. Plumber Frank wished he had spent more time with his daughter before it was too late. What they both had in common was what appeared to be the central theme to the story – the struggle against fate.

An interesting variety of creative conventions were sewn in to the performance, from shadow-play to puppetry, which really brought it to life. The performers encouraged the audience to decide the direction in which the story went by choosing certain objects, which created a pantomime feel and made the story itself a little hard to follow. It was obvious that the audience enjoyed the “prawn cocktail” chorus, a quirky all-singing all-dancing bunch who bopped along to the wonderful piano playing of music man Zac Gvi, and the wit of the performers certainly shined through. Though this is still a work-in-progress piece, the prawns made it a joy to experience.

Gemma Whitfield

Marelle was at Canada Water Culture Space for one night only. For further information about future events visit the space’s website here.