1927 is a British theatre company, based in Margate, specialising in producing and performing mixed-media live animation theatre, inspired by a love of silent film. Its productions combine performance, music and film, both colour and, especially, black and white. Since its first production in 2005, the company has been involved in opera, especially Barrie Kosky’s The Magic Flute in 2012 at Komische Oper Berlin and Offenbach’s Tales of Hoffmann at Graz Opera in 2023.
Please Right Back is aimed at children over the age of ten, but at the performance I attended, most looked much younger and I wonder what accompanying parents made of the frequent, and unnecessary, use of very strong language (eg ‘f***’).
When one entered the auditorium there were two figures dressed in white and black with pointed hats, giving out pencils…
It was a shame that there were no ushers inside the Purcell Room as house lighting was dark and patrons were having a hard job to find their seats, totally unaided by the white and black figures, who eventually appeared on stage!
The plot concerns Mr E, played by Stefan Davis, who is given a perfectly innocent briefcase. All he has to do is jump off a train and hand it to a man called Jones, then get back to his family in time for tea. “Easy peasy“. How, then, does he end up in prison? Part social realism, part science fiction, Please Right Back is a eulogy to the power of the imagination, storytelling and make-believe”, we are told in a handout, available online, as are worksheets, a learning guide and other information.
The cast of four play many different roles and interreact with the ever-moving animations and continual soundtrack. Chardae Phillips, Jenny Wills and Lara Cowin do a splendid job of keeping the pace going and trying to ensure that the story remains clear, even if Suzanne Andrade’s plot fails to build to a climax before the interval, and Act Two seems to have less energy than Act One. The superb, film, animation and design are by 1927 co-founder Paul Barritt; there is often so much to look at that one forgets to concentrate on the plot! Music and sound design, often cleverly integrating live speech with pre-recorded voice, especially Patrick Copley, as Davey’s voice, are by Laurence Owen.
We are told that this is a “twisted little story” which could be fiction or not. It is certainly surreal, combining the aesthetics of a twenty-first-century graphic novel with old-style, handcrafted video, all the time harking back to the age of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton.
Please Right Back is an unusual piece of theatre for Christmas: eschewing the sentimental and frivolous, it is quite dark and downbeat. At the matinee performance I attended, adults outnumbered children 10 to 1 appreciating the complexities and creativity of the piece perhaps much more than the young people present. If you have never seen 1927’s work you should try to see this.
Review by John Groves
Kim and Davey’s dad, Mr E, has disappeared. When Mr E writes to his children to tell them what has happened, his imagination takes over. Reality collides with fantasy, as we travel on a fast-paced journey through his wild adventure stories.
Mr E’s letters are staged using song, dance, and absurd, subversive animations, as his stories become a kind of game between him and his children – a cathartic release in the face of distress.
PLEASE RIGHT BACK
21 December 2024 to 5 January 2025
Purcell Room at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre
