REVIEW: LIMA by Julian Azad Bonnet, Camden Fringe at Etcetera Theatre 23 – 25 August 2024

‘a very physical actor with a poetic approach’ ★★★

Julian Azad Bonnet performs his show about solitude, giving a variety of disconnected scenes with the added benefit of film. The artful projections were one of the highlights of the piece taking us from underwater scenes to cityscapes. He’s a very physical actor and the mimed scenes were very precise, although the piece about martial arts was crying out for a much longer demonstration from him, than the snippet he allowed.

This idea of violence turned into something peaceful, seemed to be the crux of the piece. In Bonnet’s opening scenes he expresses a series of anecdotes about things he finds annoying. The language moves between his native French and English with ease, we are in Paris after all and right now he’s a waiter (plenty of irritating customers). As the show progresses, we find out that his mother has a lump in her breast, very worrying, and other facts about his life are drip fed into the scenes. 

Bonnet also gives a couple of rap performances, and he is very skilled, although his dance work isn’t quite so accomplished. The show begins to seem as thought it’s expressing his anger issues as we continue to be given more of the backstory, but it loses this thread towards the end and begins to seem a little hazy. 

The scene about him being quite violent as a baby is hilarious and other humorous moments also inject some fun into the piece. There is so much to love her, but it stays very disconnected. The threads don’t seem to go anywhere.   Even after he’s had more news about his mother, again he is deeply affected, but there is still the sense that everything is disjointed.

It does seem to add up to an attempt to reconcile solitude with everyday chaos exactly as promised in the programme. This results in a piece which doesn’t flow, whilst poetic it doesn’t give any solid conclusion and isn’t a totally satisfying as a piece of theatre. If artwork is where he’s at, then he has succeeded, but as a piece of drama, some clearer direction from an outside eye is well worth considering.

LIMA by Julian Azad Bonnet, Camden Fringe at Etcetera Theatre 23 – 25 August 2024

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