Fruits, or the Decline of a Distant Memory

What can one say about a show from which nothing is gained? The answer: not much. This hour-long piece (that would have been more suitably titled “what have I just watched?”) leaves audiences confused and dissatisfied, not only wasting time and money but also food.

Given that the official blurb did what all well-written synopses do – try to sell the show to punters – one would not be mistaken in looking forward to “a dream-like experience inspired by fears and fuelled by hope: the fruitless attempts of finding love, embracing solitude and seeking acceptance”. But Fruits merely offers a well-intended but wrong-footed piece that one is impatient to finish.

Although performers Mimmi Bauer, Pat Dynowska and Michał Szpak, of theatre group Takadaja, utilise the expansive space of the Cavern well, most of their dialogue is missed, made more challenging by bad sound design and the various languages spoken. Experimental or fragmentary theatre can be great, but the issue here is that there are no connective threads, which culminates in a lack of substance. In one scene one sees the cast chew some fruit and spit it out (food wastage anyone?) and in another, Szpak is dressed as a fruit fly, buzzing around, trying to create humour. There are admittedly moments where the piece shows a little promise, such as when Bauer endlessly chases a spotlight, while, in another, Dynowska sits, everyone looking to her for action as she replies moodily, “What are you looking at? I’m just on my break”.

Takadaja have verve and are tenacious in their delivery, but Fruits, or the Decline of a Distant Memory falls flat, a fever dream one wishes to escape.

Selina Begum

Fruits, or the Decline of a Distant Memory was on at The Vaults for one performance only on 28^th February 2023.

Read more reviews from our Vault Festival 2023 coverage here.

For further information about the event visit the Vault Festival website here.