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Tales of Xenia
Tales of Xenia
C Aquila
by Gareth K Vile
Tales of Xenia is simultaneously a clearly educational project and an intriguing use of theatre as a vehicle for philosophical exploration. Discussing the notion of hospitality understood by the ancient Greeks but apparent in Biblical stories such as the visit to Lot by the angels in Genesis, it has a rare use of puppetry that enhances the storytelling. Bear Pit Theatre consists of sixth form students from Alleyn’s School in London and, while the experience of attending the Fringe is as much about the experience for the young people as any particular theatrical outcome, Tales of Xenia has the happy blend of intelligence and good humour that addresses the audience directly and carries considerable research lightly.
Constructed from a verbatim script and relating multiple, overlapping stories through an ensemble cast – who confidently embody the characters and situations through a physical theatre of gesture and choreography – Xenia is quietly optimistic about the human condition without drawing any hard conclusions. It is a provocation towards further conversation, revealing its process through play and catalogue a range of experiences. The puppetry, which appears throughout the performance, is bunraku style – the company have been trained by Henry Maynard of Flabbergast – and serves to change the aesthetic style and signpost the return of particular stories. In the context of xenia, a set of behaviours that insist on the interconnectivity of human society, the multiple puppeteers for each puppet become symbolic of how the individual is, ultimately, an expression of community. Arms, legs and head are animated into movement by careful attention, and the natural charm of the puppet eloquently articulates the tentative movement of the traveller in unknown territory.
Flabbergast’s most famous puppets – the anarchic vaudevillains, Boris and Sergey – are echoed in the scale of the puppets but where B and S were out to bilk the audience, these characters are stripped of individual personality (without costume, without features) and have a more abstract appeal. The verbatim script is stripped of peculiarity, the adventurers are located into a mythic location – almost universal – and xenia becomes not a specific moment of generous but a more symbolic action. Both the disassociation implied by the puppet, and its uncanny ability to absorb emotion from the gaze of the viewer, empowers the production.
That the young people have spent the production process learning about a subject that crosses the mere boundaries of the academic timetable is evident: yet the production goes beyond this pedagogical value to be a stimulating performance and a sketch towards a theatre of ideas. Variously emotive, visually impressive and playful, Tales of Xenia is an important example of youth theatre’s capacity to entertain and educate and, within the Fringe, puppetry’s ability to be a useful ingredient and not merely a moment of surprise.
Four stars
