PERFORMANCE & COMEDY

The Brewery, Bristol (Wed 18-Sat 21 Jan)

THEATRE Little Bulb return to Bristol with this new touring show, after charming local audiences with ‘Operation Greenfield’, a sell-out at last year’s Mayfest. Keeping to the same kind of rural map coordinates, the Little Bulbs now venture deeper into the English countryside in search of the dark heart that beats at the centre of village life.

In this ‘tale of two villages, different… but strangely similar” –  the fictitious but recognisable rival hamlets of Little Downing and Upper Downing – LB take their deceptively chaotic cues from Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ to create a pastoral that is anything but idyllic. In a set that is ‘O’ level Handicraft meets Women's Institute Hall (jolly hangings executed in blanket stitch and running stitch with gingham patches and appliquéd birds and bees), the four energetic Bulbs embark on a madcap morality play that holds up a mirror to rural England and all things seemingly bright and beautiful therein. Their cunning plan includes dividing the audience into two halves and whipping them up into a frenzied battle of balloons with the word 'HATE' written on them.

Little Bulb may be passing themselves off as simple country bumpkins with ooo-aarr accents (in the same way that Publick Transport, Gonzo Moose and Lipservice masquerade as fools) but there’s method acting in their madness: scratch the surface and you'll find consummate artistes and musicians doing sophisticated post-modernist irony that’s rich in references and tiny amusing details. The result is a hoot, particularly the second half: pure entertainment with no serious message, served up in a fruity punch of deconstructed am-dram. This will slip down like lemon curd on its national tour of small theatres and splintery village halls, from Chipping Norton to Broughton-in-Furness. (Rina Vergano)

Copyright Rina Vergano 2012