DramaLondonReview

The Man Who Thought He Knew Too Much – Pleasance Theatre, London

Reviewer: Karl O’Doherty

Writer and Director: Voloz Collective

Think back to those moments you most enjoyed when watching a pacey classic thriller on the big screen (or with the lights low, streaming at home). What stands out? For many, it will be the main character – generally (and generically) the everyman whose life is interrupted by a stranger on a plane, train, or automobile. There’s something highly compelling about an innocent man being forced to go on the run.

Translating this idea and attraction to the stage seems to have come naturally to the Voloz Collective, a creative group specialising in bringing cinematic storytelling to a live theatre space.

The eponymous “Man” of this piece is Roger, a French advertising copywriter in New York who becomes entangled in a shady, film noir-ish plot involving Russians, women in red hats, rockets, implausible travel, a brush with real history, and international conspiracies. Through an exciting whirl of tightly choreographed and delightfully woven physical interactions Roger and the many other characters (all played by the four members of the Collective) take us through a twisty tale with danger, comedy and inventive turns that surprise us time and time again.

The four cast members (Olivia Zerphy, Paul Lofferon, Emily Wheatman, Sam Rayner) are all well trained in physical theatre and it shows in the comfort and versatility they bring to this production. From slapstick flips to flawless on-the-fly bodily prop and scenery creation, their execution is that of a well drilled and highly compatible team. It’s a pleasure to watch such fluid physicality, really. It’s all set off by multi-instrumentalist Frederick Waxman providing the audio accompaniment (and sometimes lending a hand or body part to be a fifth player on stage).

It has a large and acknowledged debt to stylistic cinema. The programme notes Wes Anderson, Hitchcock and Spaghetti Westerns as influences. Perhaps we can go a little further and cite definite echoes of Mel Brooks’ Blazing Saddles in particular here, too, with its numerous farcical elements. In truth, it potentially also owes much to books with tightly interconnected plotting and compelling internal logic like the similarly named counterpart The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared. Whatever its sources and inspirations, the treatment of this co-created story at the hands of these four collaborative Lecoq graduates is fresh, funny, kinetic and compelling.

Runs until 7 October 2022

The Reviews Hub Score

fresh, funny, kinetic and compelling.

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The Reviews Hub - London

The Reviews Hub London is under the acting editorship of Richard Maguire. The Reviews Hub was set up in 2007. Our mission is to provide the most in-depth, nationwide arts coverage online.

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