Sarah Lamb and Maddie Flint,
Music Composition
Oliver Perrott-Webb,
Producer
Jennifer Jones,
Photo Credit Andrew Perry
Adela Brianso
Lucy Davidson
Maddie Haynes
Trevor Lin
Daniele Silvan
Tiffany Soirat
With a successful 2016 fringe show under their belts, Theatre Paradok make a triumphant return with a show about clothes, or rather, the lack thereof.
Bare Threads bares all. The opening number is ‘The Stripper’, and only gets better and better. Once everybody is down to their skintone spanx there is no room anywhere to hide inhibitions. The cast are wonderfully blasé with their exposure until it almost becomes strange to see them covered in clothes again. Their monotone freedom makes you wonder why we are so prudish with our bodies. It’s just a body, everybody has one.
There is a lot of fun to be had through the shedding of clothes and the refusal to put them back on. The physical comedy from the cast is perfect and has the audience in stitches. To balance the comedy there are several contemplative moments when the farce of being de-clothed is not a farce at all – it can be aggressive or tender as they show in two beautifully contrasting couples’ segments.
They explore whether ‘the clothes become the man’ or the man becomes the clothes; how much identity we put into them; how a person remains in the items of clothing even after they are gone.
Bare Threads is a wonderfully crafted piece of physical genius and shows off the wonderful talent of this young company. It is both hilarious and thoughtful and an inspired concept; well worth a watch.
14th-19th August 5.20pm