Reviewed by Paul Treasure
Lady Great Theatre Company‘s production of Smells Like You markets itself as being a show suitable for people with dementia. As such, the play is less about plot and more concerned with evoking memories.
The format of the show is very simple. Macy, who is a puppet of an elderly lady, takes a walk, encounters something that has a distinct odour, the audience each has a sample of that odour that we are invited to smell along with Macy. That particular odour unlocks a flood of memories for
Macy, which are then played out in shadow puppet form behind her. This happens three times. That’s it. That’s the show in a nutshell. An incredibly simple concept, and yet because of its very simplicity it is a moving, beautiful, effective and affective piece of theatre.
It always amazes me how, in the hands of a good puppeteer, an otherwise inanimate object like a puppet can come to life. With the firm guidance of puppeteer Lily Murrell, Macy is truly alive, and we feel her journey throughout the piece as we share her memories. The only other physical 3-dimensional character is that of a bird, who interacts with Macy and appears to lead her to each of the three odours that unlock the memories. It is literally just a bird, on a stick, with no complicated moving parts or effects, yet it moves around the stage with what can only be described as grace and elegance. This bird rapidly became an important figure in the show, and we were anticipating and looking forward to its appearances, leading to some discussion afterwards as to whether the bird had some greater meaning. Was it symbolic of happiness? Was it the spirit of Macy’s husband? Were we reading too much into it? But none of that mattered thanks to the skilful manipulation of such a simple prop.
The three shadow puppet sections of the show were brilliantly done. The main light source appeared to be an old overhead projector, with the backgrounds hand drawn onto a roll of transparent film that is then moved across the screen as we go from memory to memory. The backgrounds are all drawn in black and white in a very naïve and almost child-like style. While at the same time extremely charming, they really help to convey Macy’s state that a very crisp and detailed background would not be able to convey. Each segment also features a colour that matches the scent of that memory, purple for lavender, yellow for lemon, etc. The very clever use of colour helps us imagine and feel Macy’s memory, like fields of purple lavender on either side of a path, or a lemon tree where each individual lemon has been coloured yellow, but nothing else. Very cleverly, each of the three people who appear in these sections also has a cutout heart coloured to match the various sections: Macy in purple, her daughter in yellow, and her husband in blue.
They say that the simple things in life are often the best, and this unique production goes a long way to prove that may be the case. It is a simple and evocative piece of theatre that fully engages the heart rather than the mind. A refreshing change of pace from a lot of the flashier things on offer. For a show that is primarily about memory, it is perhaps fitting that this will be a show that this reviewer will remember for quite some time.
Reviewer Note: Tickets for this review were provided by the theatre company.
Comments