52 Pick Up
theater simple @ The Odeon Theatre
10:00am, Thu 11 Mar 2010
How many times have I seen 52 Pick Up now? Nine, maybe ten times? And how many duds have there been? None.
And, because I’m feeling a bit lazy, here’s a cut’n’paste from my 2006 musings…
For the uninitiated, a deck of 52 playing cards is shuffled and thrown into the air at the start of the performance. Each card contains a scene from The Relationship; the random order in which they’re picked up can affect the mood of the piece. For example, too many of the “heavy” (or sad) cards at the top of the performance can send the audience on a thoughtful trip; start frivolous, and it becomes a comedic performance.
This performance definitely fell on the light-hearted side of the fence; there were triplets (or quads!) of related cards in reverse chronological order – the sweater, the astrology – that created a genuine sense of mirth. The penultimate card was First Meeting; the last card was Sex.
Andrew and Llysa are still fantastic as the two strangers / friends / lovers / warriors, and all the little flourishes that make 52 Pick Up such a joy to (re-)watch are still there. If anything, Andrew’s performance was a reminder that we just don’t see him on stage enough anymore; he really is a great actor, with brilliant comedic timing. Unfortunately, it was only a small-ish crowd that turned up for this performance, but there were a lot of familiar faces in that crowd… it’s like a joyous little cult ;)
But apart from that, there’s really not much else to report. After all, I’ve seen it all before, but in a different order… and I’ll continue to see it again. In a different order.