Director: Olivia Zerphy
It’s the sort of thing which might be set as a drama school exercise – create a piece of theatre out of swimming. Clearly devised and developed over time, The Crawl is now a pretty slick two-hander, although it ricochets about and tries to cover too many bases.
Dressed in swimming gear, including goggles (of course), Alexander Burnett and Ellie Whittaker start with a less-than-accurate, very physical account of evolution from blobs in the sea to homo sapiens, who are now keen to get back in the water. Actually, this quasi-Brechtian prologue adds little to a show which is actually about competing, self-esteem, finding yourself and being a winner in your own life.
Eventually, we reach a competition between Mytha, a Russian champion and Steve from Dead-enton in the UK, assisted by audience participation – hard work when, as at the performance being reviewed, there are only 14 in the audience. At the same time, Burnett and Whittaker, who work together with smooth rapport, periodically become commentators on the race, and that works effectively with changed hats, body language and voices. Both actors are adept at ad-libbing, too, because as soon as you invite audience members to express views, give advice, come on stage as swimmers or whatever, you have to think on your feet.
This show plays in the black box studio at Greenwich Theatre and uses no set, apart from a small container for minor costume changes and only the most basic of lighting. There is, however, a musical soundtrack to spice up the nicely choreographed swimming sequences and occasional drama, such as when Mytha gets into trouble in the water.
Billed for over-8s, The Crawl is an amiable, quite original 60-minute piece of theatre.
Runs until 23 May 2026
