A TALENTED CAST HELD BACK BY A DISJOINTED AND DIFFICULT TO FOLLOW PLOT

By Katie Shaw | @katieeshaaw ⭐⭐ | Press Invite

On Wednesday night, the Canal Cafe Theatre in West London transformed into the scene of a 1966 Truman Capote inspired party: Garden Party. Written by Alessia Siniscalchi and Paul Spera and directed by Siniscalchi, this production combines immersive performance and live music to tell the tale of Capote’s true-crime classic In Cold Blood.

The intimate theatre is filled with decorations fit for a ‘60s bash: red tables dotted around the room, white veils draped over the banister; black lace eye masks scattered across the tables for the audience/guests to wear, and the four-person cast donning gloriously queer costumes, makeup and sultry expressions.

On arrival, the audience are encouraged to get in character and get comfortable with the proceedings of the evenings events; to marvel at Capote’s party, as encouraged by the cast who float around the tables, tending to their audience – who are not in attendance as an audience, but as their guests. The cast is supported by a live musician, Didier Leglise, a cameraman who follows the cast around the room recording and photographing them, and a third person who sits on the stage operating the content screened on a projector – I think. It’s not entirely clear.

Drawing inspiration from an infamous 1966 Capote ball, Garden Party describes itself as a performance exploring “fame, hypocrisy, and desire in a world teetering between elegance and cruelty…Garden Party invites the audience to dance, unmask, and confront their own fascination with spectacle and truth.” While I see the vision intended here, the writing is disjointed and makes the plot difficult to follow. It’s a performance that lacks structure, feeling disorganised and undefined; preventing this production from landing effectively and as described or intended. I’m sure there is a story in there somewhere, I’m just not sure I followed it.

It appears to convey a condensed version of In Cold Blood, with characters like Perry and Cookie and the Kansas murders being referenced throughout, both in dialogue and in song. Even as the production/party draws to a close and the performance reaches its climax, the performers appear just as confused as their audience, with eyes darting around as if to ask, ‘is this the end?’ It’s unfortunate, because the cast are brilliantly talented.

Fergus Head, Paul Spera and Lucy Planet are the three core performers who all boast a flair for theatrics. They have a magnetism about them and are sparky, confident and engaging, but the weakness of the writing and this production’s overall structure does nothing to amplify their talent. Truthfully, I left feeling rather confused by the whole production.

Despite this, the cast rallied through the hour-long production with a largely lukewarm audience in tow. I can only hope that future audiences have more of an appetite for this production.

Garden Party – Truman Capote’s Black and White Celebration is running at Canal Cafe Theatre until Sunday 17 May.

WEBSITE

⭐⭐

Photo Credit: Francesco Calabrese