Vault Festival 2023 review

Satirical courtroom drama The Dissent (★★★★) playfully recontextualises the interconnected myths of Phaedra, Ariadne and Icarus as a protest against patriarchal attitudes. The play appears as part of Generation V, a showcase of performances in partnership with drama schools East 15 and Fourth Monkey. Here, Libby Boyd plays a gender-swapped Icarus on trial in the afterlife, accused of complicity in her own downfall. The fresh, intriguing script, which Boyd also authored, is full of sassy humour, and while it’s needlessly expositional at times it still articulates an important promise to believe and bear witness to those who experience abuse. Rounding out the strong cast, Charlotte Boyle plays an innocent but never naive Ariadne, alongside Ruby Blue Tansey-Thomas’ loathsome Minos, bullying the defendants to render his own twisted version of justice in support of the status quo.

The show gets a lively staging, full of fun modern touches. White sheets draped over a scaffold are used creatively as costumes and canvasses for back-projected silhouettes, finally unfurling as Icarus’ sweeping wings.

In 2015, then-PM David Cameron echoed dehumanising fascist rhetoric in referring to a “swarm” of migrants threatening the UK. Liv Ello: SWARM (★★★★) takes this gross comparison to its surreal extreme with silly skits and character sketches that cleverly confront stereotypes of Britishness, some lovably flawed, many utterly repugnant. We’re introduced to the loutish, drunken Barfly and the condescending Housefly – an estate agent informing a young couple that the rubbish bin they’re viewing is out of their price range.

Ello is a brilliantly watchable performer, buzzing and flitting about, and smoothly handling the show’s sharp tonal shifts. In the background, a slideshow of stark statistics charts the UK’s worsening living standards and deepening economic crises. Repulsive images intercut this data stream: flies crawl on dung, maggots writhe in carcasses and hard-right politicians rattle out hollow slogans. While much of the show is laugh-out-loud funny, Ello’s righteous outrage cuts through the absurdity, rendering this a powerfully discomfiting satire.

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Gun to Your Head (★★★) is a meandering mood piece that effectively captures a feeling of aimless teenage nihilism. The story centres on two troubled runaways hiding out in the woods after robbing a KFC. To pass the time and keep their existential angst at bay, they overshare, obsess over old movies and tentatively flirt. Playwright Simon Jaggers’ dialogue is sharp, packed with resonant details and ominous hints, though the 30-year-old cultural references feel dated. The joint leads share a spiky chemistry: Shakira Riddell-Morales captures the ferocious restlessness of Dakota, the tougher, more savvy of the two, while Abdul Jalloh gives partner-in-crime Bede an evasive, hesitant energy, never quite able to cut all ties to his past life. Giacomo Esposito directs a high-octane staging that sees the performers charging up and down a narrow tunnel, providing the ploddingly paced play with some much-needed dynamism.

Written and performed by Tatenda Naomi Matsvai, Dark Matter (★★★) tells the story of Takura, a Zimbabwean woman raised in London, facing up to mortality after her grandmother’s death. Unsure how to properly grieve, she invents a syncretic rite of her own, fusing ideas from traditional religious practices, new-age spiritualism and quantum physics. Matsvai, a member of the Vault Five mentoring programme, is a magnetic performer, delivering her poetic, heightened text while keeping up a constant, precise dance of sinuous abstract movements. In the background, animated projections designed by Gisela Mulindwa echo the play’s dreamlike tone, with wavering line art depicting skylines and blinking eyes, their lashes meshing like the teeth of a Venus flytrap. Though the show feels awkwardly paced, with the energy dipping during the midsection, Matsvai packs the piece with thought-provoking ideas and several sincerely beautiful lines. 

It’s the opportunity to discover those affecting, unexpected moments that make a visit to Vault so rewarding. Whatever comes next for the festival, it demonstrates how vital it is to continue to support socially conscious work, foreground diverse voices and champion creativity.  

All Falls Down
Dates: January 24-January 28, PN January 25
Author/cast: Joe Strickland
Producer: Chronic Insanity  
Running time: 1hr

The Dissent
Dates: February 2-February 3, PN February 2
Author: Libby Boyd
Cast includes: Libby Boyd, Ruby Blue Tansey-Thomas, Charlotte Boyle
Producer: Themis Theatre and Fourth Monkey
Running time: 1hr

Liv Ello: SWARM
Dates: February 7-February 10, PN February 7
Author/director/cast/producer: Liv Ello
Creative: Lily Woodford-Lewis (technical design), Thomas Moen (videography)
Running time: 1hr

Gun to Your Head
Dates: February 14-February 18. PN February 14
Author/producer: Simon Jaggers
Director: Giacomo Esposito
Design: Shane Gill (lighting), Claudia Kane (sound), Will White (composer)
Intimacy coordinator: Abbie Grundy
Movement director: Renée Bellamy
Dramaturg: Rosa Torr
Cast: Shakira Riddell-Morales, Abdul Jalloh
Running time: 1hr 25mins

Dark Matter
Dates: February 21-February 25. PN February 21
Author/cast: Tatenda Naomi Matsvai
Director/dramaturg: Kirk-Ann Roberts
Design: Phyllys Egharevba (set), Ruth Harvey (lighting), Joe Browning (sound), Gisela Mulindwa (design/animations)
Choreography: Tinovimbanashe Sibanda
Movement director: Sean Ting-Hsuan Wang
Stage manager: Molly Tackaberry
Producer: Jess Senanayake
Running time: 1hr 10mins