Anyone who complains about the logistical nightmare of wedding planning deserves to be met with a hollow laugh from theatre company Dante or Die, whose meticulously crafted site-specific play places the audience amidst the frenzy of a wedding day.
Staged at the Hilton Docklands Hotel, the audience is divided into six small groups and led into separate rooms where various wedding guests prepare for the ceremony. As the big day’s key players faff about with best man speeches, wardrobe malfunctions and last-minute swigs of Dutch courage, the audience can freely wander in the space, invisible and inaudible to the characters. One woman in my group failed to vacate her chair in time to escape a pair of lip-locked lovers who sprawled on top of her snogging to the songs of One Direction.
When the first scene finishes, each group moves to the next room. The action rewinds and off we go again, viewing the same 10 minutes of turmoil from a new angle. Muffled commotion from the corridors and hints at character backstories become clear as the six scenes interweave into a wider picture.
Some may dismiss the diced narrative as a gimmick but Chloe Moss’s skilful script allows for slower moments for the characters to breathe within the chaos of hairspray and hysterics. Daphna Attias’s production impresses most immediately in its powers of organisation — entrances and exits require pinpoint timing as the actors juggle several scenes at once — but there’s humour and tenderness to be found as well.
Until Sun Mar 9 (020 7359 4404, almeida.co.uk)
