#31 Out of Place

Mime ( Physical Theatre, Solo Show ) Salle Moreau-Evrard, French Institute

Classic mime from Guerassim Dichliev, a veteran disciple of the great Marceau. Storytelling without hardly a prop: a chair and a mic stand for coat and hat.

Jazzy, popular soundtrack, with extra voices as plot devices. There's a mystery woman, audio only, as well as a surreal cow, and a bunch of babies. There's some kind of a story arc, with children growing, and babies being taken care of. A Western inspired finale, and the pearly gates.

Not always clear what's going on, but the medium is the message. Performance is occationally quite hectic, Dischliev builds up quite the pace with some of the scenes, and this isn't really justified or resolved. There's a good bit of time between some of the headline gags, but constantly moving Dischliev works up a real sweat. Without respite, the show slips on the monotonous side a bit. An hour feels plenty.

Dischliev channels one of the recent Doctors, Christopher Eccleston, quite a bit. Tall, and intense, with a hard face widely smiling. Dischliev is a humble man who lives his art, and is keen to improve it still.

Amusing audience address at the end, with picture taking. Fun to see some experimentation in that space.

A bit of humble mime, for an hour of your time.