Old People, Children and Animals

A piece of experimental, devised theatre involving non-acting humans and professional animals, this quirky work from Manchester-based Quarantine delivers on all of its promises yet doesn't live up to expectations.

There are animals, but only briefly. There's a child, but only peripherally. Questioned are posed, including some knotty ones, but directly rather than theatrically. A 66-year-old woman reads a series of them from flash cards. Some request facts, some are philosophical, others daft. Some are narrow, others wide open and a few require a simple yes or no.
No two performances will be exactly the same, but there's little opportunity for meaningful responses or interaction.
Interestingly, given the show's title, one question that did elicit a chorus of identical responses on Thursday was 'Who are you responsible for?' The answer provided: 'Myself'.

The participants were recruited via open auditions, and the piece built around them. Therefore, music is provided by a teenage rock band and anecdotes by a quartet of women in their 60s and one man, Bill Glasgow, who was diagnosed with cancer during the creative process and participates via film.

The show's writer Sonia Hughes and director Richard Gregory have created a piece of work that is somehow less than the sum of its parts. The four women clearly have many, many stories to tell, whether of grand adventures or domestic diversions, and insight into the minds of the three teenagers might have provided a fascinating counterpoint.

As it is, however, Old People, Children and Animals fails to establish any connections among the people on stage, or to address universal thoughts, feelings and experiences.

Perhaps the most interesting moment comes when one of the women, neatly dressed and well-spoken, gets up to dance to the music of the teenagers. Loose-limbed and unselfconscious, she briefly rocks out before returning to her seat as if nothing had happened.