PETAR MILOSHEVSKI

HOPE | The Guide, Listomania, Bath

21/10/2012

University Theatre, Bath 

This intense 45 minute one-man performance by Macedonian Petar Miloshevski was also conceived and written by him. It's a combination of words, mime, dramatic lighting and music with the minimal props of one table and two chairs. It was followed by a Q&A session with the likeable author/performer.

The text, we are told, is a compilation, not always recognisable, by Checkhov, Strindberg, Shakespeare, Buchner, Tarkovsky and Dukovski with performance styles inspired by David Lynch, Ingmar Bergman, Checkov and Jerzy Grotowsky.

This was never going to be light entertainment, but should all this information matter, or should the performance stand on its own merits?  I'm in favour of the latter and, rest assured, from that position, this tale of love, pain, death, paranoia, sex, drugs and no rock'n roll works.

Petar is a compelling performer: lithe, athletic, expressive, varying from minimal movement to exaggerated. He performs on, under, around the table, using it as his world.

Not always easy to follow, it nevertheless commands attention.
Hope has been performed around Europe, won awards, and Petar has received invitations to perform it in Russia and Belarus. His next planned piece, commissioned by The Old Vic Tunnels will be based on Gabriel Marquez' One Hundred Days of Solitude.

This may not be everyone's idea of an evening out at the theatre, but it certainly fills an important niche and was well attended at Bath Spa University Theatre, and well appreciated.

Philip Horton