Paper Swans

Flabbergast Theatre - Soho Theatre

Unique, picturesque and utterly insane. You will question what is going on, but this piece of absurd theatre will make you realise sometimes you don't need a clear reason.

Writer and performer Vyte Garriga is also a fantastic swan origami artist. As you enter Soho Theatre's little black box theatre Garriga is sat on stage folding away creating more and more beautiful paper swans to fill the stage. Why? That's the question that is asked throughout the two-man piece.

This characterised, expressive piece follows a lady who is trying to make enough paper swans to cover the frozen lake in a park. She is interrupted by the park's security who is trying to get her to leave, because the park is closed. The battle between the two is shown in a number of stylised ways and you will sit there questioning what is going on. However, that is the beauty of the piece. It's symbolic and comes from a reflective perspective from the writer. Lithuanian performer and writer Vyte Garriga is displaying in moments of the show her feelings of moving to the UK from a post-soviet country, and this is embedded within.

Daniel Chrisostomou plays the second character in the show. His experience in physical theatre, puppetry and mime are evident in his performance. An outstanding and shining performance by this actor! In a repetitive piece he clearly shows character development and although Garriga's character is the focus; his character is the one that seems to be the most intriguing and has more layers than a lasagna. Garriga's character is played with energy and emotion. However, in terms of choreography and technique moments that have a balletic style it would be interesting to have more a distinction between pointed and flexed feet. A closer look into the dynamics of her characters choreographed movements would make the performance more intriguing and abstract. Daniel Chrisotomou's display of the choreography had clear transitions into each movement and thought into how to dynamically perform them. Garriga's most drawing and strongest movement section is when she performs a sequence of showing the guard how to make a paper swan, she uses her body to show him. This is truly beautiful.

The floor is covered with paper swans, and the set clearly portrays a park. There are tree trunks, a park bench and branches. The black box theatre adds to the dark aesthetic that the tone of the piece presents to the audience. In addition, the repetitive content of the piece, shown in various ways creates a creepy, nightmare atmosphere. Set is designed by Valentina Turtur. It's minimalistic, but Turtur have used their resources to their advantage and created such a unique and artistic setting. In combination with the lighting design, by Henry Maynard there are an array of creative moments. Such as, the bench is turned away from the audience in one scene and there is a white spotlight on the bench, this changes the angle the audience are viewing the scene. The two characters also lay back and walk in the air to change the texture of this moment. The set, lighting and content create this hour long artistic visual nightmare! Which is impressive.

Paper Swans is worth a watch, especially for Daniel Chrisostomou's strong performance. It is an interesting piece of writing and a divine example of authentic set and lighting design. You can also take a paper swan home. I'm looking forward to seeing how this piece of theatre progresses!