REVIEW: INDESTRUCTIBLE by Mary Swan at Omnibus Theatre 16 Jan – 3 Feb 2024

‘a flawed, interesting, worthy, slightly clunky piece of theatre’ ★★★

This was a very long (two hours no interval) very oddly paced three-hander that was largely a series of debates on art, women’s art, cancel culture, and monetising creative work – there was a running theme of the need to find an iconic piece in your art show to put on mugs and tote bags, and reviewers were all given tote bags. The irony…

The conversations about art and morality are pretty abstract, often abstruse, and they are not all that compelling. It’s hard to warm to any of the three main characters – a feminist artist who is a no-longer-quite-so-YBA, her jack-the-lad agent/principal buyer, and a very camp and catty art-gallery representative. That the piece leavens the solemn debates with humorous sections, in which the audience gets to vote on whether Picasso is still viewable when you know what a shit Picasso was, for instance, does not sufficiently enhance a show that is pretty hard going otherwise. The funny bits really aren’t that funny.

Committed performances from all three principals, nice naturalistic set that places all the action in the artist’s attic atelier but makes transition to other locations harder, lots of video scenography and significant images that aren’t improved by being projected onto a bumpy set, and interesting musings on the relationship of Lee Miller and Man Ray which make more sense if you know something about Lee Miller and Man Ray beforehand; this show sort of assumes some prior knowledge.

It's a flawed, interesting, worthy, slightly clunky piece of theatre. At the end, I knew more about art and the moral costs of exhibiting, the sell-outs, the small betrayals. I didn’t come away with a brave new theatrical experience on my cv.

Photography: The Other Richard

INDESTRUCTIBLE at Omnibus Theatre 16 Jan – 3 Feb 2024

PRESENTED BY PROTEUS THEATRE COMPANY

Written and directed by Mary Swan

Box Office https://www.omnibus-clapham.org/indestructible/

Dramaturg and Digital Artist: Paula Varjack; Dramaturg: Saul Jaffe; Animation and Projection Design: Christopher Harrison; Set and Costume Design: Sam Pine; Lighting Design: Joe Hornsby

Cast: Danny Charles (Christian); Paul Huntley-Thomas (Robin); Mary Rose (Catherine).

Reviewed by Chris Lilly