Theatre REVIEW: Paperweight | Camden Peopel's Theatre

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The Review - THEATRE by SIMON WROE
Published: 16 October 2008

The office where anything can happen

REVIEW: PAPERWEIGHT
Camden People's Theatre

I HAVE never watched somebody peel a hard-boiled egg with such utter determination.
When it falls triumphantly into the bin, the audience share Harold’s frustration and feel as surprised as he was that the shell-peeling didn’t go smoothly.
Paperweight, this year’s well-deserved Edinburgh Festival Fringe First Award winner from Top of the World theatre company, is a collage of finely choreographed sequences, with director Jamie Wood successfully capturing the essence of the eternal routine of the office worker.
He brings the audience into the office space, as well as the innocent pedestrians walking past the “live” windows of the back wall in real time.
The stage is fresh and current, and once the actors appear uncertainly on stage we realise that we are prepared for nothing. Anything could happen – and does.
Tom Frankland and Sébastien Lawson are finely paired as two lonely men who share a secluded existence that pivots between happy and sad. Each performer allows the other time and space, resulting in a well-balanced partnership, with an honest connection that is a joy to watch as they dive around the space.
The emphasis for me was the creation of passionately original characters, carefully constructed in terms of emotion and intelligence.
When Harold sits in chewing-gum Anthony mustn’t apologise, and when he laces the latter’s tea with salt it is essential that he drinks it.
Wood has taken the mundane space of an office, removed noise and created a tentative atmosphere. Startling the audience with the unexpected makes this office extremely exciting.
Until October 25
0870 600 100

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