Review: JAMES THIEREE - COMPAGNIE DU HANNETON, THE TOAD KNEW at Sadler's Wells

James Thierrée's latest offering is an another polarising work from theatrical experimentalists Compagnie du Hanneton. Having previously presented work in London in 2007 and 2014, Thierrée and co are making their much anticipated return to Sadler's Wells to intrigue and shock a fresh audience; it will certainly divide opinion.

Entitled The Toad Knew, it is impossible to pinpoint the piece as being about anything in particular at all, but this 90-minute show is oddly captivating once you accept its lack of narrative and that events simply occur as a stream of consciousness.

You need to let go early on and be content to go with the flow; "Perhaps foolish things can become meaningful," Thierrée posits in the programme. It's not too much of a challenge as one is immediately entranced by the mechanical complexities of the set, all of which is encased in distressed shabby but shimmering curtain. I frequently found myself looking to the ceiling of the Sadler's Wells stage, which is a maze of wires and metal frames.

The action takes place in a sort of mad sorcerer's laboratory. It's all very Addams Family and engaging in its unpredictability. Thierrée is unsettling in his jerky movements, always appearing just slightly unhinged. Part-singer, part-narrator Ofélie Crispin wanders on and off the stage throughout, her clear, powerful voice a highlight in this muddle of distortion. Her wafting red cape is majestic and evokes an otherworldly feel.

Thierée's frequent use of visual motifs are charming for a minute or two while the audience acclimatise until becoming a little irritating. Dance and theatre is widely acknowledged as a disciplined art form and Thierrée completely subverts this notion with his playful, childish manner. It will either infuriate you or leave you gently chuckling. There's a stubborn violin that he can't dispose of, a scuffing of feet and his troublesome floppy hair that he can't seem to escape from despite even trying to staple it to his head at one point.

Thierrée is accompanied by an equally zany cast who drift in and out, remaining more distant than Thierrée. The relationship between himself and energetic accomplice Sonia Bel Hadj Brahim is unclear as they wrestle in a tangle of limbs. Samuel Dutertre and Hervé Lassince provide the slapstick and some authentically French disgruntlement.

It's all perfectly watchable to start with, but as it goes on it asks a little too much of its audience to find continued amusement and wonder. There is no interval incidentally, and we could perhaps have benefited from this brief return to reality to assist in tolerance levels. Quite a number walk out at the one-hour mark because there is not much else to get from Thierée's muddle of ideas.

To dismiss Thierrée's ventures simply as silliness would fail to appreciate the sharpness of the visual trickery and seamless technical transitions, however on balance I still cannot decide whether I was entranced or exasperated throughout an evening whether nothing discernible actually happens.

The Toad Knew at Sadler's Wells until 7 May

Image credit: Richard Haughton

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