“This,
says David Rosenberg with a proud had flourish, ‘is where it is going
to happen.” He is standing in one of the large upstairs room sat The
Museum of The Unknown. It’s full of junk, old chairs, newspapers, the
lights are hanging by threads, the paint is peeling off the walls, the place
itself a health and safety nightmare.
‘We’ve got to tidy it up a bit’, he admits, ‘but the
flakiness is the point.’
Rosenberg is the unofficial spokesperson for the ten-man theatre collective
Shunt. They like to put on theatre productions in unexpected places. They
usually hang out under a railway arch in Bethnal Green, performing cabaret
for themselves, their friends and whoever else has caught wind of them. They
don’t advertise, they don’t have much money, aren’t interested
in conventional notions of theatre, whatever, those are, and they admit they
aren’t entirely sure what their new piece, The Tennis Show, is about.
But they don’t know it’s to do with lawn tennis, the idea of disappearance,
and what Rosenberg describes as ‘the darker aspects of court officialdom’.
He doesn’t want to say much more in case it spoils the surprise. The
Museum Of’s current persona is the Unknown, after all.
Shunt, who have only been around for a couple of years but who are already
gaining a reputation for innovative work that attracts people who don’t
normally go to the theatre, devise pieces that are inspired by a specific
location and which depend upon an audience to make them come to life. Their
last show, The Ballad of Bobby Francois, recreated the plane crash ( the audience
were the passengers) that left a South American rugby team stranded in the
Andes, forced to eat each other in order to stay alive. The crash was so effective
the members of the audience started hyperventilating.
The Tennis Show is less dramatic, but equally macabre. It looks back to Tennis’s golden summer when McEnroe beat Borg in 1982’ says Rosenberg. ‘It was the time when shorts were getting shorter and everyone was commenting on how hairy all the players were. I was 13 and very excited about it. ‘I stare blankly. ‘so it’s about all that.’ He continues hurriedly, but it’s set in the 1920’s there are a couple of obsessive, aggressive linesmen, and the ballboys aren’t exactly……’He stops again, it’s all sorts of things really. It’s up to the audience to make it work’. What type of role will they have? ‘Well, they’ll be split into two parts and they’ll be moving around, and wondering what the other lit are doing and they can get involved if they want to. Is it a bit like The Crystal Maze? Are they given challenges and stuff? ‘Er no. What They Crystal Maze?
Not The
Tennis Show, clearly Rosenberg admits that Shunt are difficult to categorise;
their work involves comedy, cabaret, art installation and performance, and
the company includes a circus performer a fine artist and a designer. They
spend a lot of time together rehearsing under their arch, although Rosenberg
admit this can get claustrophobic.
‘Fortunately, no one in the company is having relationship else he says.
‘that would be too much.’ He hates the label alternative, but
admits it’s necessary evil in order to get the Arts Council to give
them some money. ‘You know, ever-one uses the labels “breaking
down boundaries” and “experimental theatre,’ without knowing
what they mean?” Well I’ve an idea but I reckon Shunt have far
more interesting interpretations. But, as Rosenberg say, we’ll just
have to find those for ourselves.
Claire Allfree