THEATRE REVIEW: Hothouse **** (From News Shopper)

THEATRE REVIEW: Hothouse ****

9:32am Friday 11th September 2009

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SEXY, sizzling, bonkers and utterly brilliant, Hothouse immerses the audience in the world of a seedy backroom bar where tango-infused music and dance set the stage on fire.

Known for staging productions in unusual locations, the makers of Supermarket Shakespeare have returned for another run of their tale of love, lust and murder.

Fresh from closing the Grimeborn Festival in London’s East End, Teatro Vivo is now touring Lewisham, bringing the most unlikely venues alive with their intoxicating brand of theatre.

Approaching Blackheath’s Bakehouse Theatre I notice some strange figures lurking on the street.

A woman with eyes like an angry ferret’s is stood by a lamp post dressed in a black rain coat and fedora. She watches me with suspicion as I turn into an alley leading to what appears to be someone’s back yard.

The girl on the door asked if I was followed. I turned around to see others arriving with an equally bemused look on their faces.

Intrigued I walked into the darkened room with chairs and tables around its edges.

I followed my parched lips to the bar at the back where a row had erupted between the Aussie barman (T J Holmes) and the bar’s eastern European owner Madame Wanda. Or as she calls herself, Vanda.

Fortunately, it is all part of the night’s performance where the audience is as much a part of the story as the actors.

After schmoozing with the flirtatious Wanda and singing the latest Lady Gaga hit with the so-called House Singer (Sarah Jane Wolverson) we took our seats for the main show.

The story explores the relationships between the bar’s performers, staff and selubrious clientele, including the abusive and violent Gangster played by Phil Desmeules.

To a stirring tango score the actors tell the tale through seductive dance routines, bluesy songs and cabaret.

Particulary impressive was actress Laura Hooper’s solo dance with a rythmic gymnastics ball and the accordian playing Barman’s surprise tango rendition of Hit Me Baby One More Time by Britney Spears.

The devilishly creepy twins Timmy and Tilly Twisted (Mark Stevenson and Rebecca Peyton) were darkly comic and disturbing.

Timmy was especially mesmerising and unnerving as a ventriloquist’s dummy, with a wicked smile perfectly glued to his face and a detachable arm which he uses to grope the forlorn House Singer.

However, for a production which relies heavily on dance, the performers sometimes appeared stiff and awkward, perhaps constrained by the lack of room to manoeuvre in the small theatre.

At the same time, the size of the venue added to the intensity of the music, the passion of the dancing and the drama of the story.

A free tango lesson for the audience at the end was tempting, but with two left feet I decided to watch from the sidelines.

Besides, when the actors removed their masks and let their characters slip, a little of the magic and the atmosphere was lost in the process.

With Hothouse, Teatro Vivo has successfully broken down the theatrical barriers between the passive audience and the performer.

In doing so the company has injected new life into the concept of theatre and created an exciting new world where anything can happen and everything is possible.

Hothouse. The Horniman Museum, London Road, Forest Hill. September 15 and 17. Email info@teatrovivo.co.uk

The Albany, Douglas Way, Deptford. September 19. 020 8692 4446.

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