Simon Ward reviews The Sound Of Absence at the Omnibus Theatre

The Peg is approached to review many more shows than we can possibly cover, so there has to be a sifting process to choose which ones to write about. I generally try to pick pieces that seem to be ones that I might enjoy, based on my own preferences and the the sometimes scanty information available. But I also want to provide a broad overview of what is happening across the London fringe scene, so will sometimes step gingerly out of my comfort zone. Regular readers will be familiar with my ongoing struggles with audience participation, for example. Although today’s show does not feature any of that, it nevertheless represented an example of me choosing to see something a little different from my normal fare. Described as an ‘immersive performance’ that ‘transforms the stage into a landscape of sound and emotion’, I was sceptical, but willing to give it a try. Unfortunately, for me, neither the immersion nor the transformation succeeded, and I remain unconverted. Until my next experiment.

This is a very personal piece, written and performed by Yanina Hope with music written and played by Vladyslav Kuznetsov. Based on Hope’s relationship with her own father, it is staged as a series of vignettes, glimpses of scenes from her life with and without him, interspersed with snatches of poetry, movement and dance. Kuznetsov plays the piano throughout, as a kind of soundtrack and accompaniment – the intended effect is presumably to enhance our engagement with the spoken word, but for me there was little connection between the two. There is also extensive use of lighting effects provided by TheGeorgeNET, which again, did not seem to connect to either the music or the voice. The three separate elements failed to fuse into a satisfying whole. Directed in traverse by Ivanka Polchenko, Hope strides up and down, occasionally crouching and hiding as she tries to come to terms with her feelings. She is dressed all in white in a man’s dinner suit edged with what looked like veins and arteries which seem allude to her father’s role as a heart surgeon, but the significance remains obscure.

It is of course possible that this obscurity is intentional, that Hope’s feelings need to remain fragmentary and incoherent, and that to give them an overarching structure would be trite and untrue. However that may be, it makes for an uncomfortable evening when all the participants seem to be straining after a meaning which remains elusive and unfulfilled. It is also strange to leave the theatre after more than an hour’s meditation on death and loss and feel distinctly unmoved. One message that she perhaps does manage to convey is the need to move on from any bereavement, however close and devastating, as she demonstrates that she has done simply by staging the play. I genuinely hope that it was beneficial to her to make this piece – I fear that it will need more work to make it resonate more widely.

The Sound Of Absence is running at the Omnibus Theatre, 1 Clapham Common North Side, London SW4 0QW until Saturday 28th February