Fringe review: Bed Bug
This experimental hour of performance is simultaneously distancing, challenging and nerve-wracking. ★★★
This new show from Jack Brett (with music production from Dinnerladyyy) explores the end of a long-term relationship and the inevitable slip into something altogether darker through sonic experimentation. Never an easy watch, it’s dark and daring, never letting the viewer off the hook. Using guitar, synth and pedals alongside programmed sounds, Brett essentially plays an album live, ratcheting up beats, sounds, tension and occasional lyrics to almost unbearable levels. Alongside this, he explores the physical impact of sound and experiences on the body, shaking, morphing and collapsing, before reaching a place of calm acceptance.
This is interesting and ground-breaking work, but it does feel like a piece of performance art that is being played at us, rather than a performance we might want to engage with. Perhaps that’s the point; to unsettle, to disturb, rather than to build empathy. Yet in the final moments of the performance, when a final vulnerability seeps in, we’re right there alongside Brett: you can only conclude that someone as skilled at bringing us in has made an artistic choice for most of the show to keep us out. This is a challenging hour that pushes boundaries, shows fearless experimentation and creates a beat that doesn’t let you go.
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Bed Bug is playing at the Crawford Room at the Courtyard of Curiosities at the State Library from March 12 – March 22
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