Theatre Temoin have done something special here. Their fantastical mask-and-puppet-theatre brings the metaphorical demons of alcoholism to blood-curdling life in a show that doesn’t flinch from the horrors of addiction and its consequences, yet allows light and magic to shine in. It leaves one horrified yet positive. It’s powerful stuff.
The Marked is set among the wheelie bins and skips of cardboard city London. Jack is a gentle, boyish Scouser, left sleeping rough after the death of an abusive, alcoholic mother. As he shoos off pigeons and tries to avoid getting moved on, he encounters another pair of rough sleepers, Sophie and Pete. In pregnant Sophie, who is under the spell of both the bottle and the feckless Pete, he sees a reflection of his own mother, and in a scarf she leaves behind he finds a symbol of safety and protection that mirrors the kiddies’ torch he used to dispel darkness and demons in his youth.
That’s the storyline, rich in symbolism and clear on the bitter realities of homelessness. But what really helps this soar as theatre is the way sound, set and performance meld seamlessly together. There’s just a cast of three here, but the set allows them to emerge from almost any angle in any number of guises. Masked figures represent characters from Jack’s past, notably his lank-haired, bloody-eyed mother, swigging from a bottle. Puppet pigeons pop up to interact with him. But most powerfully, demons haunt the piece, either giant, skeletal creatures, or greasy bin bag men. As Jack holds the stage, the other two actors work tirelessly to taunt him, as if infinite in number. Jack wrestles with them, runs away from them and banishes them, but the metaphor never feels laboured. Performances are physical, and break into slo-mo at key points. With a soundtrack of ambient noise that can at any point switch into bone-chilling electronica, the effect is savage.
The show is heavy on feel, balanced with just enough dialogue, and wrapped together with the right dose of sentimentality. The precise details of Jack’s back-story are never fully revealed in words, but the effects of his childhood are readily felt, and the resolution beautiful, all elements once again coming together perfectly. There are many ways to tackle the issues contained herein, but with The Marked, Theatre Temoin have found one that taps into childhood fears to make their point remarkably strongly.
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