Review: FISH IN A KETTLE, Fabric Studios, Liverpool
Fish in a Kettle, the latest immersive piece from Lab Rats Collective, submerges its audience into a surreal house party that’s set in 2050 and hosted by the ocean, within Fabric Studios, Liverpool.
Created by Kate Taylor Hunter and Anita Brokmeier, and devised out of performance, conversations with marine scientist Dr Marta Payo Payo and the voices of local school children, Fish in a Kettle confronts audiences with multiple visions of Liverpool in the face of a climate reckoning through a performance that debuts on the hottest May Day ever recorded in the UK; this is timely and important work.
“Follow your gut”, we are advised, as we are guided into the party’s dancefloor by the compelling Ringo the Oracle, (Ellena Begley). The choice is ours to make; which partygoer will we follow? Three different possibilities are laid out on the table; will we witness complicity, denial or anger in the face of climate change?
One mourns a gilled-friend, another devours a meal of plastic bags while the third shakes up a deep blue cocktail. We observe, as if through aquarium glass, how each reacts to the impact of global warming, rising sea levels and plastic pollution, before the group return to the dancefloor and the music shifts the tone of the space, lifting the mood before words and choreography remind us of the urgency of the message.
The design of the space encourages audiences to flow into the different rooms within this promenade piece, and to witness mourning in the bathroom or heated dinner discussions in the kitchen. Bags for life are used resourcefully to emphasise the impact of them ending their lives in the oceans, the wall space is decorated effectively to raise further important questions and the lighting quietly signals possible futures.
The performances of the three partygoers (Kate Taylor Hunter, Anita Brokmeier and Felipe Jara), are compelling and confronting in their emotion at the future they find themselves in, and bold in their physicality. The ensemble choreography, led dynamically by the talented Ellena Begley, punctuates the house party experience and resets the switch for the next part of the journey.
This is an ambitious piece with lots to say within its rich and varied devised script. The multi-path promenade design of this performance, and the short frames within it, combined with the surreal dialogue can be not only disorientating, but sometimes frustrating; we were longing to engage with the characters for longer, to really get to know their oceanic voice.
That said, the dramaturgy provokes constant, and often uncomfortable thought, and therefore achieves its aim. No audience member will experience this piece in the same way, read the same information from the walls or witness the same plot, much like our media consumption of the global debate on the climate emergency, but we are all left thinking of ways we could do more.
This is a promising piece that speaks loudly of the global climate emergency and the role of the individual in the fate of the planet in an exciting format. Further development of character and dramaturgy would enable audiences to hear its important messages even more clearly.
Entertaining, enlightening and emerging. Recommended for those who want to drop right into the action, choose their own adventure and be the first to witness daring new theatre.
*** Three Stars
Reviewed by Lauren Wilson
Fish in a Kettle plays at Fabric Studios, Liverpool, until 30th May. More info here.