Stop, do not pass GO, do not collect anything, head straight to the box office at The Blue Room and book a ticket to see ‘Bruce’.
If you don’t grab a ticket straight away there’s a good chance that by the time you finish reading this review the show will have sold out.
Sure, you’ll get other chances to see the show, ‘Bruce’ like Tim Watt’s other productions ‘Alvin Sputnik’ and ‘It’s Dark Outside’ is destined to be repeated many times, but if you want to be able to say, “I saw it back when it was first on at the Blue Room” – go to the box office now.
Tim Watts and Wyatt Nixon-Lloyd don black jumpsuits, ninja style, and perform against a black backdrop rendering them largely invisible to audience, what’s left is the larger foam head of Bruce, performed by one half of the team, and the characters white hands, performed by the other half of the duo.
Watts and Nixon-Lloyd have worked out ever creative thing you can do with just simple piece of foam, two ping pong balls and a pair of gloves. Where they manage to take the audience – outer space, police raids, bars, hospital surgeries, burning buildings and back alley ways is simply outstanding. More impressively, the foam head and hands perform more than 15 characters through out the show, all achieved with subtle movement changes, voices and creative lighting.
The show is funny, heart warming and simply a joy to watch. The story is well constructed and filled with emotional touch points, but the real spectacle here is the team’s creativity and performance. Creating something so beautifully simple is paradoxically an undertaking of great complexity and a triumph of talent.
‘Bruce’ is playing at The Blue Room until December 7th 2013, don’t miss it.
Graeme Watson
