Just watching the trailer made me cry so the fact I walked out of the theatre with red, tear-flooded eyes was not a surprise. I wasn't aware of how powerful puppetry could really be until this production. I was ready for a heart-gripping story and that's exactly what I got.
"Cell" is about a man named Ted who has motor-neurone disease. It takes us through his journey of his first encounters of the symptoms and cross-cutting into his memories of the past. It is a show that introduces us to a life of a simple, ordinary man, one who loves stamps and the company of his goldfish, and how he deals with having MND.
One of the things I loved about the show was the fact it did not concentrate on the negative side of having the disease. There were no melodramatic breakdowns and smashing of decorations and furniture, which probably would have been hard to do considering Ted is a puppet. There were moments where the spectator was made to feel sympathetic to Ted and these moments were indicated with a low pitched, minor key music score, however, for me, the most heart-wrenching moments were the times he was happy and able. Ted kept his sense of humour, held onto the positives and made-do with what he had.
I think what astonished me the most was the fact Ted was a puppet. There were two puppeteers controlling what he was doing and yet somehow Ted became his own person. You nearly completely forget that Ted is an inanimate object. Moments where performers would become characters in the scene, e.g. the physiotherapist and doctor, added to this perception of Ted because the audience is actually shown him being treated like a real human being. Ted has an entire body, unlike other minor characters introduced throughout the play; a man sat in front of Ted on the train was represented as the shadow of legs under a table, the waitress was completely invisible and was portrayed through vocal sounds and a remote control cart, and, most importantly to Ted's story, Ted's "holiday lover" was only a head with glasses, that was held like a coffee mug, and a ceramic small hand. Bizarre!! The sheer creativity in the portrayal of these characters is astounding and highly effective.
The shadow puppetry was engaging and very clever. It added to the adorability of the entire piece. The performance wasn't only emotionally hard-hitting but also very educational. Through the shadow puppetry and use of torches and light, we are told about the symptoms of MND, how people are examined in treatment, how the disease actually works and also shown the story in a bigger picture through small illustrations. The visual and aural education provided by the performance was much more powerful than any documentary could tell me about MND.
Most, if not all, sound effects were portrayed through foley where performers would create the noises on stage using everyday items, e.g. crisp packets, shoes and water in a glass with a straw. Simple noises from the performers, such as hums and sighs, were enough to convey any feelings of the characters. The use of music was beautiful; the musical score is what really gets you during subtle moments between Ted and other characters, for example, the high key, abrupt, but soft piano melodies during romantic moments and the droning, low, minor-key of the moments when he begins to lose the feeling in his body when the disease starts to take over his physical state, but never his mental state.
The performance had only a few sentences of actual speech. Music, dance movement, darkness and light, shadows and inanimate characters were more than what any dense dialogue between real actors could have offered. In saying this, when there was speech it was only Ted doing a short monologue and it was still very effective, especially in the end where, after such a sensual theatrical experience, he ended with the powerful, inspirational quote: "I am not dying from Motor Neurone Disease, I am living with it."
Absolutely beautiful. Amazing work by the collaboration of two very talented theatre companies.
I'm going to reevaluate my life now.
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