The Stage

Tangle

Published Wednesday 11 October 2006 at 14:50 by Rene Butler

As a title, Tangle matches the content of the play most aptly. We realise this after Malcolm’s opening monologue of confusing scientific rhetoric. It’s quite impressive talk for a people-finder/private investigator. He has been employed by Flora, an LA chick with the aesthetics if not the brains of one of Cagney and Lacey, to find lost uncle Carlos.

Rapid scene changes between west coast America and Wimbledon perplex further but then again it’s this feature which promotes intrigue. In south London the pair meet physicist Jocelyn who is searching for her brother. An equation Einstein would admit as tricky explains her take on finding the missing, or something like that - it really is that baffling. And it’s this point in the play where there seems to be a division. Half of the audience are genuinely lost themselves while the other half is braced with excitement waiting for the next development. There is also Hamish who is trying to locate his wife. He too a scientist, one who thinks he has developed teleportation. He hasn’t but actor Chris Thorpe has a good go at persuading us that he as.

Unlimited Theatre’s sound reputation for devised work is not hollowed by Tangle. Indeed it should be commended, as long as you’ve got the patience to unpick the plot.