BWW Reviews: THE NABOKOV ARTS CLUB - FABLE, Battersea Arts Centre, March 3 2012

The Nabokov Arts Club colonised Battersea Arts Centre for two night in early March to hold an arts festival, complete with burly bouncers on the door, stamps on the hand for re-entry if you slip out for a fag and multiple venues simultaneously hosting performances scheduled to repeat through the evening. It's a pick and mix approach, so you can wander in and out of spaces as you see fit - just like an outdoor event in the summer. 

Battersea's 120-year-old Town Hall (though it's been Battersea Arts Centre since 1980) is an almost perfect venue for such a multi-facted event. Its grand staircase and many rooms of varying sizes offer performers spaces ideally suited to intimate shows, larger scale theatrical pieces, promenade works and any amount of performance art. It's almost perfect, because, on a night that encouraged a wandering, there were many doors marked "Strictly Out of Bounds" - there had to be, of course, but it did rather jar with the atmosphere beautifully created by lighting and a few simple props that softened the harshness of the marble.

Fable was the title on the programme and fable provided a loose theme for the performers to interpret as they saw fit. Notwithstanding listings, the best way to find out what was going on was to read the blackboards hung on doors - this wasn't a slick event running like clockwork, nor was it intended to be. Musicians, comedians, storytellers, actors, performance artists, dancers did their stuff, hanging it on fairy tales, myths and fables. The evening had the feel of an art school private view - bohemian clientele, a few talent spotters and work that varied wildly in terms of both talent and polish.

But that's only half the story - events like this are not passive, nor one-offs. On the night, one participates as one wishes and, when the night is done, one picks up the acts at other events, at festivals or on the comedy circuit. Fable, like other events run by The Nabokov Arts Club, gives a much-needed showcase to emerging talent (and more established talent too) and an opportunity to enjoy a taster of what's to come when the outdoor festival season comes round in the summer.