Signal to Noise, Forced Entertainment Review
Reviewed by Eleanor for Theatre and Tonic
Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in exchange for an honest review
Signal to Noise is a new production by Forced Entertainment, and self-described as a “playful and unsettling, comical and deadly serious performance.” Forced Entertainment is a group of six artists, based in Sheffield, who have been collaborating and performing together almost continuously since 1984. Their aim is to use provocative and collaborative theatre to speak on current issues and inspire audiences worldwide. The confusion, questions and laughter they elicit from their audiences not only come from performance, but also gallery installations, books, videos and even a guided bus tour. As Forced Entertainment celebrates its 40th birthday, this performance marks the UK premier of their new work Signal to Noise.
This inventive piece used a lot of physicality and expression to elevate the speech, some of which was surprisingly eerie. There was a lot of movement throughout the performance which made it more visually interesting. Each actor really gave it their all and remained in their set characters throughout. Unfortunately, that is where my commendation ends. Ultimately, I found Signal to Noise to be chaotic and mad in a way which left me confused and frustrated.
This performance piece is a 90 minute collection of elongated scenes where the actors on stage perform around repeated phrases of dialogue. Their actions appeared connected to the speech, starting calmly and then becoming more anarchic, but at other times seemingly more random. One of the early repeated phrases was ‘Are these my words? Is this my voice?’ This alluded to the fact that the dialogue was not being spoken in real time, but pre recorded and then lip synced by the various actors. This seemed an initially interesting idea; I thought that maybe the voices would take over, moving beyond the need for microphones and taking over multiple actors. However, no story arc was ever realised which left me disappointed. The recorded speech itself was just nonsense words and phrases which were repeated too often. Each scene lasted for around twenty minutes at a time, where the same two or three phrases were repeated for the entire duration. There is a promise of a deeper meaning regarding some of the subject matter, but I struggled to uncover it. I was left for the whole performance wondering ‘what am I missing?’
One scene which I think worked slightly better than others was the repetition of ‘Russian money, Chinese money, American money’ for about 10 minutes, which I can only presume was a comment on modern economics? The way the surrounding actors' reactions changed from excited to exhausted and then circling back round was a sort of ‘plot’ that I could follow. Unfortunately, I took nothing away from the other scenes.
Props were used widely throughout, but I personally garnered no meaning from these either; actors were mindlessly placing flowerpots on step ladders and sweeping fake grass for seemingly no reason. The costumes also changed rapidly, so a large number of characters could be shown on stage. But these often didn’t fit (with straps falling down or zips not done up) and were of varying quality. Similarly, this may have all had some deeper meaning but I found it hard to determine what this was all trying to say.
Overall, I think the idea of Signal to Noise is a somewhat interesting idea, but the way it was realised here did not resonate with me at all. The show overall is far too long and may have been more engaging if some scenes were shortened dramatically and if the speech was more varied and developed further. One repeated phrase within the show was ‘Is this working?’ Unfortunately, for me, the answer would have to be no.
Signal to Noise is part of Forced Entertainment at 40, a special London-wide programme in partnership with the Southbank Centre, Battersea Arts Centre and The Place. It is playing at the Southbank Centre until the 11th October, but is then touring the UK until the 6th November.
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