Ockham's Razor 'Tipping Point'
Drawing a circle is a potent and symbolic act. Humans have been using circles as part of ritual and performance for thousands of years.
Ockham's Razor are a aerial theatre company who combine the disciplines of circus and visual theatre to create work that grabs your attention and is also highly entertaining for all ages. Their specialism in creating physical theatre work on original pieces of aerial equipment brings awareness to the vulnerability, trust and reliance on another that we share as human beings, especially when your in the air without harnesses.
The company have been together for 13 years and came together through studying at Circomedia, Academy of Circus Acts and Physical Performance in Bristol. Turtle Key Arts became their producers in 2006 and bring these thrilling pieces into the theatre spaces, Tipping Point is something to be experienced by all.
The synopsis for the piece centres around circles, we see these in the movement around the performance space, the movement in the performances to the use of the aerial equipment. They transform 5 metre metal poles into a landscape of different images that captures your attention. The poles are the main string that pull together the piece, they are balanced on the fingertips, hung from the roof, lashed, climbed, swung from and walked along. These simple poles become visuals for forests, cross roads and pendulums, all brought to life by the helping hand of five performers.
The performers balance, climb and cling to this teetering world, supporting each other as they wrestle with the moment when things begin to shift. They must decide whether to rail against the chaos, struggling to exert order on a disordered world, or ride it out, allowing life to tilt towards the tipping point. - Ockham's Razor Website
The piece of work was a true representation of strength, focus and agility as we saw 5 human bodies move in the space. The performance drew me in as we were sat in a round surrounding the performances, making it for very intimate and exciting watch. The performance kept me gripped and engaged in the hour duration that it is. In the hour we experience so many thrilling and mesmerising moments, from levitating off the floor with the help of a pole or on the bodies of one another.
The tempo of the piece played from the rapid movement of chasing the equipment around the round where it catches your breathe. The slight paused moments catch your breathe as you see the performers hold positions as you hold your breath in the second they are requiring your full attention. You couldn't help but admired by their strength and ability in this piece. Tipping Point made you excited and opened up a new area of physical theatre that I am so excited about now that I would definitely like to engage in more. It drew on your full attention in the haze of the chalk dust, the height and very much to the last moment where we see a pole create circle upon circle of chalk dust until the lights went down.
I was invited by Turtle Key Arts to review the performance. Photos are press, all words are my own.