Somewhere in the second half of Kathryn Hunter's production of Aristophanes comedy, The Birds (NT Lyttelton Theatre), I lost my sense of humour. I take no blame for this mess, declaims a Pierrot-like Poseidon, and neither (s)he nor the dynamic, talented cast deserve much blame, but sadly this collaboration with Mamaloucos Circus falls off the tightrope of inventive theatre and onto the crash mat of ill-conceived disappointment.

The Birds is given a tough, slangy, colloquial translation by Irish poet Sean O Brien which largely fits Hunter and designer Liz Cooke s warped, timeless setting, but it does few favours for the narrative, which is hard enough to follow with the stops in the play for the circus tricks to take place. This is perhaps one of the show s problems; that rather than allowing the comedy and Matt Constain s dazzling aerial choreography to run hand in hand, one aspect of the performance always grinds to a halt to make way for the other. The result makes the near 3 hour running time feel much longer.

Marcello Magni's Pez caricature of a power crazed dictator is dislikeable not least because his diction is so poor, but also because his performance tends to ride along the same path for the entire evening. On the plus side for these birds though are Nikola Kodjabashia s atmospheric music and Josette Bushell-Mingo s witty, physically observant performance.

Those expecting good aerial feats will find them here, but in all too small a quantity. Those expecting good theatre will have to strain harder to find something worth shouting about; sadly, the occasional bouts of acrobatic energy cannot mask over the crude, confusing mess the rest of this production is. The NT Transformation season s turkey.

Jonathan Richards
jonathan.richards@westminster.org.uk
Jonathan Richards' Web site