Review: TACENDA, VAULT Festival

RedBellyBlack Theatre are back at VAULT Festival with a new piece of devised theatre, Tacenda where Elizabeth (Louise Hoare) and Joy (Kate Goodfellow) are stuck in a Groundhog Day predicament of sorts.

They relive the same day over and over again with minimal change, dealing with bad meetings, disastrous flat viewings, and ultimately ruining their best friend's (Joel Gatehouse) birthday party.

It's generally inventive in its movement direction but mainly lacks bite in the delivery of the themes. Director and writer Vicki Baron unfortunately loses her grip and fails to engage her audience fully.

By the time the third version of the same day starts again, the play feels rather tiresome. With only Gatehouse's genuine comedic timing as the character's friend to act as rescue in the party scenes, Tacenda isn't as sharp as one wishes it to be.

Details about their friendship seep through the script but don't leave enough of a mark, resulting in a quite weak show that presents some confusion within its own themes. The few clearer, more eloquent moments do manage to make a point but these usually stray from the main storyline.

All in all, Tacenda shows the capacity to be a lot more than it is at this stage, and would benefit from further development in terms of solidity of its ideas in order to create a stronger backbone. This would hold up the visual style and physical gimmicks of the company, allowing them more room to charm their crowds with their already impressive skills.

Tacenda runs at VAULT Festival until 24 February.

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