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Third Person: Bonnie and Clyde Redux

Soho, London

2 out of 5 2

Lots of things happen to us during our lives, but few really transform us. Love is one thing that does; death another. Electrical impulses and chemical reactions take place: we are no longer what we once were, and even after death the process of change continues.

  1. Third Person: Bonnie and Clyde Redux
  2. by Peter S Petralia
  3. Soho theatre,
  4. London
  1. Proto-type
  2. Until 24 July
  3. Box office:
    020-7478 0100
  4. www.sohotheatre.com

Proto-type's latest piece, a show that is fascinating and irritating in equal measure, explores love, death and the nature of storytelling itself through the tale of those Depression-era killers Bonnie and Clyde, whose 13 victims included themselves.

It's perhaps unfortunate that the show premieres so soon after the suicide of Raoul Moat, but while it appears to buy into the mythology of the infamous lovers to some degree, it is less about Bonnie and Clyde than about the actors performing it. This layering is sometimes intriguing, and sometimes just a pain in the neck: "Look how clever we're being", it says.

There are some lovely things here, including the clever use of an overhead projector and an imagining of futures never lived and bullets already fired. But the show remains elusive, lost somewhere in the void between the knowing tomfoolery and something more charged and serious.

Although the artful tone and almost childlike simplicity is initially appealing, after a while it becomes a little wearing, like a full-on seduction attempt by someone you don't fancy. It's short and bittersweet, but if feels like a workshop idea, not a fully fledged show.


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