Parts For Machines That Do Things
ANYONE thinking of getting on a plane in the next few days would be advised to steer clear of Third Angel's latest production but everyone else should make every effort to see the Sheffield company's intriguing look at modern man's trust in complex technology – and how human fallibility can cock things up.
The premise of artistic director Alex Kelly and writer Chris Thorpe's presentation - rather than a play as such - is that we take certain things for granted; like planes staying up in the air.
Through a series of riveting monologues and conversations three actors recreate the aftermath of a minor plane crash in which two people died, and explain how a minute mistake – an engineer forgetting to replace a dead light bulb – can lead to major catastrophe.
Anyone who has ever flown and tried desperately not to think how their lives are hanging by a thread could not fail to be fascinated by Third Angel's exposition of the vast, interlinking circumstances that keep modern life functioning and keep planes in the air – and yet are still dependent on human frailty, and prone to error, however seemingly insignificant.
Kelly and fellow actors Jeremy Killick and Gillian Lees give wonderfully naturalistic and funny performances as the three plane enthusiasts, who, when not performing monologues or recreating the post-crash investigation, sit making model planes under angle poise lights, their painstaking work projected onto three screens on the wall behind them.
Parts for Machines is a sobering reminder of most of us blithely use technology without having the slightest idea of how it works. Unusual, absorbing, thought-provoking fare.
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Friday 25 May 2012
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