A red-hot tale of burning passion, this collaboration between Walk the Plank and former V-tol director Mark Murphy is something fresh in the world of large-scale outdoor theatre - a show with a strong narrative and an even stronger sense that pyrotechnics are not just there as crowd-pleasers but can be used very effectively as an integral part of the story.
In fact Swalk might just as easily have been called Stalk, as it tells of psycho siren Carrie who watches men in public places, selects one, calls him Nick and starts to send him love letters via a mysterious messenger. All are sealed with a loving kiss. Soon Nick, who is already in a relationship, is playing with fire as he becomes ever more intrigued by his unknown admirer.
Played on two steeply sloping sides of a wide stage dominated by huge screens, the show uses the fashionable technique of integrating live action with film with considerable success, if not always the expertise of companies such as Stationhouse Opera and Forkbeard Fantasy, who have been playing with these ideas for years. Sometimes the sheer size of the screens dwarfs the live action, constantly drawing your eye to the filmed images rather than the live actors.
These kind of shows, played to large audiences in a distracting outdoor setting, are very hard to pull off. Often they rely heavily on spectacle to grab the audience's attention, so it is terrific to see something that not only tries to tell a story but is also aiming for more emotional depth. If it doesn't always achieve that it is perhaps because it keeps the energy levels frenetically high as if afraid that more variation in tone and more reflective passages will lose the audience to the beer tent.
That underestimates both us and the compulsive nature of the story. Such is its intensity, you wonder that if the tables were turned and it was Nick stalking Carrie the performance might leave a nastier taste in the mouth. That aside, this is an interesting attempt to develop the possibilities of outdoor performance. It may not be an epic, but it is a well executed and pleasing mini-saga.
