The Children and Animals Took to the Streets.

To the BAC to see The Children and Animals Took to the Streets by the innovative 1927 theatre company. Mixing live performance, a spooky discordant score and wonderful animations the company draw on the traditions of early cinematography, the Berlin cabaret and Rodchenko style constructivism to craft a sumptuous contemporary parable that is as secure in aesthetic feel as it is in subversive content.

It's savage stuff - set in Bayou Mansions, a slum cockroach ridden tenement inhabited by Wayne the racist, girl gang Zelda and the Pirates and a string of tight faced residents who stare vacantly at the impoverished surroundings. Into this world comes Agnes Eaves, a optimist of Mary Poppins proportions, who believes that encouragement and collage may be all that is required for cultural renaissance.

The three performers relish every second of their dysfunctional fairy tale and despite audience protestation refuse to endorse a happy ending to their story choosing instead to pack a final bleak punch that leaves us shivering in the dark with the reminder that it takes more than a positive attitude or theatrical twist to lift the poor out of deprivation. Chilling and brilliant work.

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