Belt Up's Outland

Dominic Allen
Belt Up in association with Jethro Compton Ltd
C soco

Intermingling the life of Lewis Carroll with his poems, one of his stories, Sylvie and Bruno, and characters from Alice, Outland is a multi-layered piece which takes us into Carroll's mind and our own imaginations. It is performed in the round by a cast of three (Jethro Compton, Lucy Farrett and Dan Wood) who play a variety of parts between them, switching effortlessly between reality and the different fantasies aided only by changes in voice and body language and the occasional prop.

The audience is kept on its (metaphorical) toes by the sudden switches, the changes of character whichare sometimes done in the blink of an eye and the thought that, at any moment, you could suddenly be involved, for one young man suddenly found himself actually in the play.

Described like that, it seems like a recipe for, at best, confusion and, at worst, disaster, but in fact, even though your mind may be racing to keep up, it works very effectively and you are carried along by the writing and the power of the performances so that understanding comes naturally.

Reviewer: Peter Lathan

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