Review: ANTECHAMBER, The Barbican Centre

Meshing together live artwork, puppetry and music, Stereoptik’s latest work Antechamber is a theatrical experiment that largely delivers on its intriguing premise.

This isn't the French duo's first time as part of MimeLondon but, now that this festival of the mute and marvellous has been condensed compared to previous years, there’s an increased focus on what each show brings. To their credit Romain Bermond and Jean-Baptiste Maillet's cocktail of immersive imagery and charismatic tunes fits right in.

In this case, Antechamber (described as “an animated film, a show and an exhibition all at the same time”) builds on Stereoptik’s signature storytelling techniques to give us a story of a boy and his butterfly and - later - a man and a fly.

Looking down on screens, the pair start with a static image or video then use paint, charcoal and other means to add landscapes and figures onto them. The results are shown on a large screen between the performers. What they are rending on the screens while looking down is relayed to us live in real time. Their horizontal work is translated into the vertical projection seamlessly. A fun touch is the use of paper puppets of people and animals that either rest against the screen, stood up on top of the base image or float above in the case of the butterfly. 

As their name suggests, audio effects and music are a key part of Stereoptik’s productions. And as with the visual, so with the aural: some sounds are piped in over the PA while live guitar, keys and drums are added. Following the loud buzzing of an invisible fly, we go from laid-back twiddlings to bursts of upbeat funk that Bootsy Collins would be proud of.

The story itself is, none too surprisingly, also composed of multiple layers. On the one hand, there’s the tale of a boy whose carefree afternoons walking with his parents among nature lead him to become a researcher. Looking out of his window one evening, he spies a girl at a party in a flat opposite his. She beckons him over and their mutual attraction leads to a relationship.

Viewed from another perspective, though, this is a story redolent of loneliness. With few exceptions, the people and creatures we meet - a fish swimming through water among predators, a deskbound student in an empty flat, a butterfly blithely flapping above a glade - are presented individually, encompassed by an environment abundant with life but offering no friendly companionship. Even the party scenes are a reminder that crowds can be the loneliest places. The apparent interconnectedness of the natural world is presented here not as a fact of life but as something to be treasured.

These innovative techniques are not a giant step on from those seen in Stereoptik’s earlier work but their fluency and the cosy story still warm one’s cockles. The emotional beats are a little faint in places and the generally disjointed nature of Antechamber doesn’t help deliver the message too firmly and, while it is easy to appreciate the work’s sentiment and the imagination and creative talent of Messrs Bermond and Maillet, there is still something of a sense of disconnection by the end.

Antechamber continues until Saturday 3 February.

Photo credit: Richard Schroeder and Christophe Reynaud de Lage

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