Time is running out. An old man waits out his final days, and in the centre of the stage a huge jar of sand tips upside down, grains streaming out. The countdown has begun.
This sand-timer is the centrepiece of a fantastic set, easily the best thing about Expiry Date, a circus-theatre-dance show by Belgian company BabaFish. A Heath Robinson-esque contraption fills the stage with levers and pulleys and wooden towers, all set to collapse in an elaborate game of dominoes. Like life, once it’s set in motion, the only sure thing is that it will come to an end.
It’s a profound beginning to a show that doesn’t fulfil its promise. Three performers play figments of the old man’s memories — a wedding, a party — which all seem to end in yabbering arguments or physical violence. No wonder he’s dying alone.
Director Anna Nilsson plays, at one point, the disease that may be eating away at our protagonist, her acrobat’s body warping and mutating, before moving into a hypnotic handstanding solo. That’s a great scene, but other ideas here aren’t fully realised. They don’t have the gravity or insight to do justice to a life.
Until January 23, Barbican Pit (020 7638 8891, barbican.org.uk)
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