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Review: THE LAMB DISAGREES, VAULT Festival

Review: THE LAMB DISAGREES, VAULT Festival

A rather brilliant debut by Eratle Wang explores the shallowness and racism of general creative tropes. 

Review: THE LAMB DISAGREES, VAULT Festival

A struggling author is trying to pitch a best-seller crime novel, but his agent is failing to get publishers interested in his lazy plots and predictable twists. When he realises he can add feminism and diversity to make the story more relevant, his new main character starts to gain consciousness and fight back. As Willow tries to understand who murdered her boyfriend's wife, she calls out the shallowness and racism of general creative tropes.

Eratle Wang writes and directs an intriguing piece that challenges woke trends in the entertainment industry. Timelines and fictional worlds intersect seamlessly and sensibly à la City of Angels, creating roles that - whether on purpose or not- unapologetically fit into the notions she wants to condemn. Chih Ling Liu's Willow is a quick, clever woman, while Raphaël Lecat is unabashedly clownish as the comical novelist.

The play is relatively short with its 45-minute running time, but maintains a steady pace that beckons the audience's curiosity. While it doesn't have too much of a solid ending at this stage and the characters could definitely be developed further and more subtly, it's a rather brilliant debut. Wang handles the changes in tone very well, having them co-exist peacefully and concatenate one another to drive the narrative forward.

It's equally funny and stimulating, opening up a broader conversation about people's use of foreign cultures and experiences to further their own goals. Wang only gives a taste of the issue in The Lamb Disagrees, but we hope her budding career will explore the subject in more detail.

The Lamb Disagrees runs at VAULT Festival until 29 January.



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From This Author - Cindy Marcolina

Italian export. Member of the Critics' Circle (Drama). Also a script reader and huge supporter of new work. Twitter: @Cindy_Marcolina

... (read more about this author)

Review: CONTEMPT, VAULT FestivalReview: CONTEMPT, VAULT Festival
March 19, 2023

While the writing is gripping and Gabrielle Nellis-Pain’s performance is excellent, there’s something missing. Catherine’s colleagues are ancient ghosts through the hallowed corridors as she puts on a sleazy, raspy voice to portray them against her well-spoken main character.

Review: YOU ARE GOING TO DIE, VAULT FestivalReview: YOU ARE GOING TO DIE, VAULT Festival
March 19, 2023

You are going to die. It’s a certainty, but it’s also the title of the latest play by This is Not Culturally Significant writer Adam Scott-Rowley. Performed entirely naked, You Are Going To Die is a show about everything and nothing. You can read as much or as little as you wish in it. What does it deal with? We’d love to know - we came out of it with more questions than answers. It feels like a social experiment or an impenetrable piece of performance art. It might just be simply throwing stuff at a wall to see what sticks.

Review: FREAK OUT!, VAULT FestivalReview: FREAK OUT!, VAULT Festival
March 19, 2023

Coin Toss Collective are an exceptionally creative young company. Freak Out! highlights a problem that wouldn’t cross the mind of the average British person who lives in the inland. They deliver an amusing, chaotic farewell to East Anglia. Who would’ve thought that a show about coastal erosion would be so cool!

Review: VANILLA, VAULT FestivalReview: VANILLA, VAULT Festival
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Laura Mead writes with prudish humour while Keith Swainston directs her, Ned Wakeley (Dan), and Scott Henderson in a production that’s almost as uninteresting as Katie and Dan’s sex life. Mead’s script is as traditional as the missionary position, but wishes to be as funny as an inappropriate joke at a funeral. She gives her character a silver tongue and wit for days, and she’s great at delivering too, but the plot is awkwardly stale in its predictability.

Review: BURNOUT, VAULT FestivalReview: BURNOUT, VAULT Festival
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This approach has the story losing focus and looks like a plain attempt at quirkiness. Ultimately, while they mention how difficult it is to have only one hour, the piece comes off as struggling to fill those 60 minutes. All in all, the spirit of Burnout is strong and the creatives behind it have all the right ideas. Perhaps a stronger grasp on a more developed plot might help this naive call to arms.