Showing @ Summerhall, Edinburgh until Sun 24 Aug ( not 11, 18) @ 14:55
In a world where concentrations are being eroded by technology, theatre company Big in Belgium are also struggling to stay on track. A man and a woman attempt to deliver a lecture on Denis Diderot’s novel Jacques the fatalist and his Master, but they ‘are having a few problems’; they keep drifting off topic. Delivered as an actual lecture, there’s a real sense of their patter being thought up on the spot. Both parties agree with each other by repeating the other’s point, or disagree by amiably (they are in front of an audience) twisting their co-host’s words into a slightly different statement.
The content of their lecture soon becomes difficult to follow (especially if you’re unfamiliar with the book) and in fact there’re times when their philosophical discourse even seems to confuse themselves. However their confidence in the subject (justified or not) and the serious manner they present their baffling theories provokes much amusement.
The acting consists mainly of gesticulations and gestures and these slight movements strengthen the image of these characters as self-important academic types – particularly the furrowed-brow nods of agreement. Whether their analysis is right or not to some extent doesn’t matter, it’s not the focus of the show. The real point is reaching an acceptance of what will be will be.