Terra Incognita at ZOO Southside

Terra Incognita is a show like no other in it’s daring attack on climate change, love and loss.

Supremely detailed in its sequences of contrast, the actors switch skillfully in their critique of society between an egomaniacal troop of the epicurean, matched with Pink Floyd’s Money, to intensely reflective sadness in the flash of a well-timed strobe. The soundscape is a myriad of technical brilliance, and although we are offered only a choice few words of onstage dialogue we do not need to ask for verbal explanation. The soundscape weaves a picture constantly mirrored in the lyrical movement that allows us to understand Terra Incognita with, ironically, a deep sense of empathy. The audience are kidnapped from their comfort behind the fourth wall and are helplessly thrust into new emotional territory; a territory poignantly signposted “bad weather ahead”.

A fluid display of breathtaking puppetry is a highlight of Temper Theatre’s piece, offering a wealth of impressively versatile skills in handling and genuinely convincing the audience of a mythical onstage presence. The moon is simplistically (and brilliantly) imagined as a torch is shone outwards to the audience, reflecting on a sheet of plastic extraordinarily similar to how a beam would be on the sea. The protagonist wanders blindly in the light of the moon, and this accentuates the theme of a kind of Kafka’s trial throughout, as he is unheard in his struggle to have “something to say!”, only to be denied an explanation, or a voice. We are movingly left with the personification of a forsaken planet on the stage, as our lead character is swept away in financial obsession only to leave what is truly important behind.

A fresh-faced Frantic Assembly, Temper Theatre’s concise, emotive brilliance is a masterpiece of physical theatre. Primal in it’s honesty and hugely topical in it’s subject matter, Terra Incognita is not to be missed this Fringe.

Daisy McConnel

Terra Incognita is at from the 18^th  until 29^th of August 2016, for further information or to book visit here.