Assessment: Look, No Arms, Pleasance On-line
4.0Total Rating
Lila Clements has come to the Pleasance Theatre to
share her story with us. There is only one little drawback: she doesn’t
bear in mind what occurred. Within the witness field she is to testify on one thing she
has no reminiscence of, and her one-woman present serves as an try and put the items
collectively. Look, No Arms, directed by
Anna Ryder is a gripping solo efficiency of how the actress’ life modified from
sooner or later to the opposite.
Clements enjoys the eye she is receiving from
the viewers. She fills the area along with her story and vividly paints the image
in our minds as she remembers what occurred on one specific day. She is biking
down Kennington Highway, when she will get “swamped” by a white van and nearly turns into
a fatality. The whole lot that occurs within the fifteen minutes earlier than and the 2
hours after is misplaced in her reminiscence resulting from a seizure that she suffers on website.
Hospitals, lawsuits, and nightmares are the results of it; nonetheless, essentially the most
necessary half is lacking: what occurred in these two hours and fifteen
minutes?
Look, No Arms is the results of a protracted search.
Clements’ garments from the accident are pinned up on the crime wall behind her,
the helmet is dangling in entrance of it, and there’s footage to be discovered on the
web. 24 Hours in A&E has captured her moments of unconsciousness in hospital,
and he or she finds herself frantically watching the footage again and again on the
hunt for one thing: for her facet of the story. Nevertheless, the present that she
performs on the Pleasance Theatre and recorded on my pc display shall be as
shut as she ever will get to it.
Clements’ present is intelligent and fascinating. A motorcycle that
is conveniently arrange in the course of the area finds its use in a number of of
the reminiscences that she shares with us; her story has three layers: recollections
from her childhood, the accident and what occurred after, and naturally the
right here and now the place she invitations us to have a share in her expertise. Along with her
power and enthusiasm, she fills each nook of the black field theatre (and my
display), as a result of who doesn’t love sharing the story of their misfortune? Particularly
if it has such ending: she doesn’t die.
“The whole lot that occurs now, it’s all additional” is precisely the mentality that she brings to the efficiency. Savouring every second and drawing us in with a detective chase by way of her personal casefile, and scary recollections of the occasion that modified her life, Look, No Arms makes for a genuinely thrilling piece of theatre.
Look, No Arms is enjoying at stream.theatre till 7 November 2021. For extra info and tickets go to stream.theatre’s web site.
