Five Lines review – mini dystopia projects maximum climate catastrophe
Presented by MimeLondon, this hybrid show plays out as micro-cinema-theatre, with a miniature world projected on a big screen. It begins as a romance, with a couple meeting in a bar, then spirals into an authoritarian dystopia.
The story is set in the future but its world is recognisable as our own, with a government in denial about climate damage even as temperatures rise and water resources become depleted. Environmental catastrophe reduces the planet to rubble and leads to the creation of an underworld called Top Official Protection Oasis (TOPO), which is advertised as a shiny, custom-made utopia for all but only serves certain echelons of society.
The hour-long show is written by Swiss duo Frau Trapp, comprising Matteo Frau and Mina Trapp, along with director Natalia Barraza. An intricate assortment of models and objects are filmed live by four cameras and appear lifesize when projected (set design by Trapp). The images have a poetic quality, with zoetrope-like effects on screen, and the cardboard characters are endearing. (The audience are invited to see the diorama and its delightful objects up close after the show is performed.)
The music by Frau is as original as the visuals. It carries so much of the drama, with sultry, noirish jazz trumpet for the romance and electronic elements for the adrenalised moments. The bass is so low and rumbling during the story’s earthquake that you feel as if the ground is shaking beneath you.
The weakest feature is the story, with its rather too vague romance (the narrator tells us “I wanted to improve my career, she wanted to better the planet”), and the generic detail of its dystopia. Tension is certainly built when characters are in flight or going missing, but there is not enough nuance or depth in these plot points. Those in charge of TOPO disappear abruptly, we are told, and leadership is handed over to AI. This is a chilling idea but entirely unexplored. It is all very exquisite, but approximate.
At the Pit, Barbican, London, until 1 February
