Comala, Comala continues at Zoo Southside –Studio until 25 August 2024.
Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩
The audience was seated and given a sample of the Mexican tequila, mezcal. To my unaccustomed palate, there was an initial hint of floor polish but an aftertaste which lingered pleasantly until long after the show had ended.
The audience crowds the set on three sides. There are a number of large drums set on the floor… or are they tables? They are littered with candles, instruments, lamps; here and there a music stand, complete with music. Is this to be a concert, a séance, a spiritualist meeting or a play? The uncertainty is intriguing and a little unsettling.
The cast comes together. Are they a family? A story is to be told; that of Juan Preciado who made a promise to his mother on her deathbed that he would seek revenge on his long-lost father. The roles of the various characters in the story are allocated. It all feels rather haphazard, like a party game. The actor playing Preciado is also to play his father, represented by the jawbone of an ass.
When the play proper starts it is with a sung primal invocation from the very bowels of the earth. The songs which punctuate the whole journey are astounding. During Preciado’s story, actors switch from narrators to characters at will. There is no attempt to differentiate between the different voices. It is all potentially confusing. Indeed, it is at times confusing. But totally appropriate. This is a journey to Comala, the world between life and death, between past and present. Characters meld one into the other. Best not to try to work it out: just let yourself be transported by the whole experience and by the time the story ends, you may well wonder where you have been.
There is an English translation behind the stage area. I recommend that if you can, get a seat facing the set. I was at the side and a lot of head turning had to be done which was okay, but I would have preferred not to have had to switch my attention from the stage. The show is presented by Something for the Weekend in association with Pulpo Arts.
James Bryce
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