The Gods, The Gods, The Gods

Review by That Guy in The Foyer, John Doherty

★★★★★

Presented by Wright&Grainger + Hey Dowling (with Tom Oliver Productions and Joanne Hartstone)

Spiegel Zelt at The Garden of Unearthly Delights

Mon, 26 Feb - Sun, 03 March

“Two kids meet out dancing, they’re set to fall hard.
A woman is on a beach, alone at night, looking at the stars.
A bloke is on a bridge, thinking about jumping, just before dark.”

I was fortunate enough to experience Wright & Grainger’s "The Gods, The Gods, The Gods" in 2020 before the world went crazy- perhaps at the behest of the Gods - at the Lothian Hall on the fringe of the Botanic Gardens, and it was a revelation then! However, there’s something about the century old Spiegel Zelt’s mirror lined walls and stained-glass windows, and lush, beautiful red and gold roof drapes eminently more suited to this show than the sparse Lothian Hall.

From Al Wright’s welcome and acknowledgement of country to the exultant closing song, The Gods III, "The Gods, The Gods, The Gods" effect is profoundly visceral.

This is not theatre in the conventional sense. It’s something more akin to ritual communion, blended with a dance party, slam poetry, rap and masterful storytelling.

With most of the audience standing in the centre of the venue, the staging of this “gig theatre affords Wright, Phil Grainger and Lucy Turner scope to interact with the audience closely, exhorting us to dance, sing, and chant with them.

Phil Grainger’s musical arrangements and the ensemble’s vocals, one moment uplifting, the next soulful, create seamless transitions between the four stories- Gods, Lovers, Bridge and Sky. Wrights rapid fire slam poetry and rap and Turner and Grainger’ rich vocals lend the tales texture and depth far beyond that which simple dialogue might achieve.

Moving, thought provoking and uplifting, as the experience’s promo banner states, this is “mythology meets real life in an uplifting communal experience!”

There are insufficient superlatives to do this remarkable experience justice!

Go! See it! And Enjoy!