"This highly physical comedy about two competitive swimmers begins at the beginning not with a referee's whistle but a stand-alone aquatic opus racing through humans' evolution from fish. In caps, goggles and bathing suits, Alexander Burnett and Ellie Whittaker recount our abiding passion for the water, from the earliest forms of life to Napoleon diving into an especially wet misremembering of Waterloo,"
"The show's focus, though, is on two contestants going head to head: Meeta (Burnett), drilled for competition since birth, and Steve (Whittaker), rehabilitated from a wayward youth by a newfound love of swimming. (He still has an over-developed right arm from throwing stones.) Meeta emits discipline and icy focus; have-a-go Steve is a bag of nerves, goggle-eyed even without the swim glasses."
"Who needs props when they can play gym equipment, a library or a glacier themselves? This is a genially amusing hour, never quite reaching hysterical heights, but with plenty of clever, goofy touches and a wide appeal (it's for over-eights) even if the moral could probably be elucidated for younger audiences. The story grows surprisingly sweet and shows there's more than one way to win in life."
The production opens with a stand-alone aquatic opus that races through human evolution from fish to comic historical misrememberings. Two performers portray competitive swimmers Meeta and Steve, contrasting drilled discipline with nervous, enthusiastic improvisation. The show features heavy audience participation, with spectators impersonating other competitors, coaches and lifeguards. Physical theatre techniques and Lecoq training supply synchronized movement and imaginative propless staging, while bombastic music underlines the action. The piece delivers broad, silly humor aimed at over-eights and concludes with a surprisingly sweet moral about multiple ways to win in life.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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