PERFORMANCE & COMEDY

Tobacco Factory, Bristol (Thur 22-Sat 24 Sept)

THEATRE Doug Francisco, ringmaster of Bristol's brilliant Invisible Circus, presents this one-man, multi-character show, which combines storytelling, live music and snippets of burlesque performance. ‘The Invisible Journey’ becomes a keyhole through which the audience can peep into the life and times of a seasoned street performer.

The set against which the show takes place is a cross between a cabinet of curiosities, junkshop, and decadent/glitzy cabaret. Littered with objects such as masks (Venetian, ventriloquist’s dummy, plain white, broken), hats of all kinds (including a diving helmet), a Victorian globe, a miniature ship hanging from the ceiling, umbrellas, records, and everything in between, and lit with flickering smoking candles, the stage becomes an evocative representation of what you might imagine the inside of Francisco’s mind to look like: crowded with fantastical things, each with its own mesmerising story to tell.

And surely enough, the format of the performance adheres to these expectations. Armed with an eclectic selection of props, Francisco launches himself into a frenetic jamboree of storytelling, studded with moments of pure performance and occasional pauses for quiet contemplation. In the process, he offers up to the audience a medley of stories from his travels around Europe and North Africa as a street performer, punctuated with performed snapshots of the people he met along the way.

Strangely enough, however, the piece is marred by a certain flatness, despite the wildness of the stories recounted and the lovable weirdness of the individuals brought to life. The incongruity between the exaggerated performance of the various characters (who veer into caricatures), and the unpronounced intention of the piece (to create in the audience a degree of warmth and empathy towards those characters) is hard to overcome. Nonetheless, there is copious self-humbling on the part of Francisco, and his openhearted humour and endearing personality succeeds in winning the audience over. (Regina Papachlimitzou)

Copyright Regina Papachlimitzou 2011