Under the Covers – The Post Show Party Show, Lakeside Arts Centre

Zoo Indigo’s Under the Covers charts a course between the communal babysitting of the performers’ 3 young children, via live Skype feeds, and a recreation of selected highlights from Thelma and Louise. This odd pairing, early 1990s cult movies and maternal paranoia, is a fascinating one and, with the similarities and oppositions not lost on an audience, it becomes both witty and heartfelt in equal measure: it is this balance of dream and real-life responsibility as parent that creates the duality of the work.

The role of a mother is a driving force in the piece and developed through the use of both the audience as tool for interaction and cardboard cut-outs of their partners, flat dads. The latter alter from mere shapes to become a clever metaphor and are emblematic of the presence or absence of a father, most notably at the birth of their children, whilst serving to illustrate how true friendship lasts no matter. In this the Thelma and Louise decision suddenly comes starkly into focus.

The message of friendship through difficult events does work, if a little stretched to compare the actors’ real lives to Thelma and Louise’s position, but it is the depth of self reference and confession given by the performers which is most revealing and interesting. It is a show filled with comparisons and juxtapositions to consider, the technical wizardry of live projection under-cut by the actors spraying their faces with a water pistol to mimic tears. Equally with the show structured around interaction and meta-theatre the roles of performer and observer were strained and their designation switched from audience to the actors and back again. In the last section of the piece the audience are left listening to one of their number reading baby Charlie’s favourite book whilst the performers simply slip away: there is no heroic flight into an Arizona canyon, simply how do we find a way to carry on.

This evening is a truly family affair, with three generations of Pinchbecks appearing. Dylan is one of the sleeping children in Under the Covers, the son of Zoo Indigo’s Rosie Garton and Michael Pinchbeck – who also appears in 2D form as a cardboard dad. The rest of the family appear in the second half of the night, The Post Show Party Show where Michael and Tony Pinchbeck, his father, investigate how the latter met the former’s mother Vivienne, also appearing as their prompt, at a post show party in 1970.

With the original show having been The Sound of Music it is only right that this performance is also shaped around the same soundtrack; Rodgers and Hammerstein’s songs unerringly camp and kitsch with many phrases commonplace are wittily used by the actors – Indeed, how do you solve a problem like Maria? Even the form of the songs is well known and this is expertly subverted in Do-Re-Mi where the performing von Trapps’ rounds of song are transformed into a motif about Tony Pinchbeck’s tongue-tiedness when asking Vivienne whether she needed a lift home. This cleverness pervades the whole event: the Shloer, presented to each entering audience member with a careful insistence that it was sparkling grape juice, is wonderfully observed, encouraging those watching into fully partaking in the pseudo-post show. The man-made mountain too, complete with snow storm, is a lo-tech gem and evokes the same flurry of flakes created in a tourist knick-knack. The presentation of artefacts from both then and now again is a wonderful device to give both worlds a physicality, the simple difference of showing an LP and a CD demonstrates forty years passing very skilfully.

This is a show with great personal depth but is overly complex in its dealings with some of the past-present relationships. The mapping of the Lincoln theatre’s back-stage spaces felt extra, it was impersonal and didn’t translate. It was the memories of personal moments which gave the piece real heart and its core idea, a life created from a meeting where another ended, is genuinely poetic. It is rare to see a show with such a tangible personal link to all involved and this is one which tells this in an interesting and imaginative way, neatly moving between explorations like the record between the tracks or from Do to Re to Me.

In these two shows, which beautifully consider the relationships we have with all those close to us, it is wonderful to see them performed by these small ‘family’ ensembles and even better to watch them together as double-bill. Whilst both do well as stand alone pieces, as a pair they combine to create a special evening which allows you to consider what friends and family have done or will do for you and more personally what you would do for them.

Under the Covers - The Post Show Party Show: ****

Images courtesy of Zoo Indigo & Michael Pinchbeck