Review: THE WRITING OF STONES, The Cockpit

Photo credit: Luke Wintour

The Writing of Stones, presented by Emballage, is an utterly unique show that combines physical theatre and lyrical prose to ask the question - if stones were conscious and could talk to us, what would they say? And yes, it is as mind-boggling as you imagine.

Emballage’s raison d’etre is to create work ‘driven by research into thorny questions’, pushing their audiences to think and feel deeply. As much as this company demands of their audience, one can’t help but imagine how much forming a piece like The Writing of Stones must take out of the creatives.

This production throws the rulebook out the window - opening the show with a confronting deconstruction of what it means to see a performance, questioning the limits of sight and imagination and where those become blurred. Quite the challenge for a Monday evening, but one that serves effectively to tee up the audience’s receptors for the twisting and playful philosophising that unfurls throughout the show.

The scope of this production is encyclopaedic - ranging across centuries of art and culture, sending the audience’s heads spinning with stacked referential sequences before pulling the rug out from under us and leaving us with the profoundly hollow sensation that accompanies the realisation of humanity’s insignificance.

The cast of four are not only taut and practised physical performers, but alive and engaging with their spoken lines, alternately hitting the knowing, tongue-in-cheek comedic beats and philosophical mic-drops with an assuredness that stays on the right side of preachy.

The extensive research is evident and layered throughout this production and although at times verging on esoteric, this production never feels lecturing or aloof. The warmth and enthusiasm of this ensemble is undeniably infectious.

This production is in a blink-and-you-miss-it three-night run at The Cockpit - it would be to the detriment of the performing arts ecology for this not to have a further life.

Run to catch this entrancing production while you still can.

**** Four stars

Reviewed by: Livvy Perrett

The Writing of Stones plays at London’s Cockpit Theatre until 5 Aug, with further info here.