COMPANY NAME:  Leikin Loppu	TITLE OF SHOW:  The Tailors
DATE OF VISIT:  June 22 1999	VENUE:  Studio Theatre

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First I must mention that I am not sure why I was assessing this show as I could not classify it as dance. I appreciate that the performance does not fit neatly into a category or a box but if it had to be put in one I think perhaps it would fit better into theatre than dance.

 

This production, put together and performed by the two Leikin Loppu performers Elizabeth Besbrode and Jason Hird, was admirable in both concept and execution. It was simple but it worked. It used the personality differences of the two characters to remarkable and hilarious effect and the audience (although young) loved it.

 

The story was of Mr and Miss Tailor, double-booked into the same hotel room and both insistent upon staying. Mr Tailor is straight-laced and particular, to the point of neuroses I sometimes thought! and Miss Tailor is slobbish and - not to put too fine a point on it - not particularly hygienic. Understandably, they would clash violently even in the natural scheme of things, and stuck in a tiny hotel room together it was nothing short of disaster.

 

The series of comedic crises was told entirely without words, and was carefully synchronised to the various expressive pieces of music. Various priceless moments included: a prostrate Mr Tailor balancing a teacup on his belly, which proceeded to rise up and down with his breath in time to the rousing classical accompaniment; a storm-sodden Miss Tailor creeping round the window sill and being teased mercilessly by Mr Tailor who will not let her in; and amongst many, many others, Miss Tailor washing her feet in water which Mr Tailor, entering the room after she has temporarily left, proceeds to wash his face in - a hilarious pattern which was repeated to great success throughout the show, in some nauseatingly funny scenes involving toothbrushes, glasses and underwear!

 

The set, costumes and props were all extremely simple. But they were very believable and extremely effective. They expressed the differences between the characters well - Mr Tailor and his neat suit, precisely placed briefcase and pernickety little glasses; Miss Tailor and her squashed hat, dowdy dress and less-than-white socks. The set, a hotel room endowed with fading rose paper and drab beige furnishings took me back to the worst bed-and-breakfasts I have visited(!) and was cunningly made up of panels which performed the double purpose of screening off the backstage area and providing exits and entrances for the characters and their different scenes.

 

The progression of the action was very believable and well-conceived. The progression of the relationship between the two characters was logical, progressing through disbelief, outrage, annoyance, frustration, aggression, violence, despair, irritation and scheming, to pity, more scheming, fantasies and exhaustion.

 

I agree with the Yorkshire Post - '…marvellously timed: the piece is full of exaggerated gestures, seething fury, rolling eyes and tight lips'. It was a tour-de-force of success in my opinion, with top-notch acting, directing and choreography - which I include only because of the way the action was set to the music. Certainly there was a great deal of movement that went beyond mime in many ways, but I must emphasise, it wasn't dance.