This was my first ever visit to the Vaults Festival, a programme of theatre and comedy in the tunnels under Waterloo Station which first started in 2011. As you enter the central tunnel you feel the slightly seedy, off beat vibe and youthful energy with resonances of the Edinburgh Fringe which promises something different.
Becoming Shades from Chivaree circus returns in an extended form as one of a small number of shows that run throughout the Festival and is presented in one of the larger spaces holding an audience of around 150. It promises big circus spectacle ,intimate immersive theatre and haunting music in a story of female empowerment from a whole female cast. It is an over ambitious promise and the evolution of the show into a longer form with over extended break in the middle does not fully deliver . It does offer impressive exciting aerialist circus and haunting music presented in a promenade format with audiences shepherded to create spaces for the cast to perform their acts but its storytelling is lost and the immersive experience is muted. The Director Laurane Marchive says in her programme notes that they did not want to give audience members clear answers but we do need more clues than a wordless performance can't deliver. A simple scene list in the programme or projected on a wall would have helped immensely to offer understanding of the link between the elements. Only in the hours following did I piece together any meaning.
