REVIEW Bubbling at The Hens & Chickens Theatre, Camden Fringe 18 - 22 August 2023

‘The strongest part of Bubbling was the playful and trivial dialogue shared between two strangers trapped in one place’ …

Bodies For Rent Theatre’s ‘Bubbling’ offered an attempt at absurdist theatre in a fringe festival that is designed for testing out new ideas and trying something different. Despite performances and some elements of the writing having potential, the unclear direction and lack of storyline led to a confusing production.

Belle Bao and Jiazheng Li’s script was strong in moments. The trivial discussions of favourite films, families, ideal superpowers, and friendships that the two strangers, who appeared to be trapped in one space for a very long time, were having as they found conversations that would pass the time, were particularly enjoyable to listen to. However, without a clear plot, detailed characters, and changes of pace the writing in Bubbling quickly lacked excitement and direction. Whilst Bodies For Rent Theatre promised absurdism and surrealism, it is still important that the writing has some sort of through-line, be that through developed characters or through a gripping story-ark. Without these, the audience are having to work out what is going on before they can start to enjoy the production. Unfortunately, Bubbling missed out these essential elements.

Despite the flaws in the writing, Siyu Chen, Lorraine Yu, and Timotheus Widmer gave performances with a lot of potential. Their interactions felt natural, and their delivery was engaging. I would have liked to see them commit to the physical theatre elements more and to find ways to add colour and flavour to their performances to help with a change of pace.

Bravely, Bao and Jiazheng, who directed as well as wrote Bubbling alongside Assistant Director Yuqi Wang, attempted to capture various elements of absurdism throughout the production. These included a character that only spoke to the audience, ignoring the other individuals on stage, moments of physical theatre, the abstract use of a small box, and a lack of set and costumes. It was a bold choice to attempt to fit all these elements into a short fringe show and I commend Bao and Jiazheng for giving it a go. Unfortunately, none of these elements were fully developed or linked together, creating a show that was often unclear. The box that was used in multiple different moments was never explained and the introduction of movement felt added as an afterthought not as a coherent motive to represent anything in particular. This meant that I spent much of my time watching the performance trying to work out what everything meant, as opposed to getting an answer to “why the feelings of being trapped are so inevitable” as Bodies For Rent Theatre had promised in their show summary.

I would have also liked to see Leva Levina’s lighting design help captivate the dreamlike world that Bubbling was representing.

The strongest part of Bubbling was the playful and trivial dialogue shared between two strangers trapped in one place. Unfortunately, all the other elements that Bodies For Rent Theatre included, distracted from this strength, creating an ambiguous and jolted production. That being said, I commend the company for their bravery in giving a show of this form, which is contemplatory, absurd, and surreal, having a go - that is exactly what Camden Fringe is for.

Box Office https://camdenfringe.com/events/bubbling/

Reviewer: Amy Tickner