The Anarchy (1138-53)

An anticipated cataclysmic show by the experimental Doppelgangster Theatre company (the first of a trilogy), highlights the fifteen-year medieval civil war between England and Normandy known as Anarchy. The war instigated a breakdown of law-and-order; it provoked rampant chaos and pandemonium. This story is cleverly pivoted alongside the Sci- fi Anarchy video game (1990) with its multi - role player tropes that replicate war games of the old war.

Doppelgangster Theatre are an UK/Australian experimental performance company formed in 2015, along with co-director Dr Tom Payne with the support from National Theatre of Wales. They have gained a reputation for ecological and socially engaged works that include site-specific theatre and subversive political interventions.

Darkness looms as the audience are seated on opposite sides/. Like an arena, we look down into a rectangular stage that is gloomy, hazy, reflective and full of intrigue. Two performers take to the stage, Tobias Manderson-Galvin, a bombastic provocateur, and Kerith Manderson-Galvin, a fiery pagan witch, clutch on to the microphones like rock stars. They are the narrators of the legendary historical Anarchy war, interweaving colourful medieval rituals, gothic tales and treacherous stories, spat out in a hardcore rambling and verbose projectile fashion.

Their focus is not to confuse but to jar the senses and to enlighten their audience with a deconstructive modernist text interpretation of a historical tale in a modern-day context. Thatcher England is present. The dress code for Tobias is mock eighties punk with loads of chains; it is a war cry statement for justice, freedom and liberty. Kerith wears traditional renaissance attire in a long black woven dress and black hair braids down to the floor. She is darkly enchanting.

Together they are a beguiling pair that shake and rock the house with powerful and determined resilience; as catalysts for change in their anti-theatre, sometimes absurdist antics, together they playfully entertain their audience. They are true, sombre, deadly serious, hilariously funny and gut wrenchingly real.

"Very Hard times in Olde England very hard times”, original eighteenth century (Anon), set the pace for the show, which ends on a similar note; an interactive component encouraged an all-inclusive vibe with many singing along. The Manderson-Galvins designed the set, sound, costumes, scenery and lighting. The show is a two hour and fifteen-minute theatrical extravaganza that is engaging, provocative and sometimes mind–boggling. They are the masters of their own domain; they are defiantly superb and provide enlightening majestic subversive theatre.

Definitely worth the experience if you are up for it!

Flora Georgiou

Images: Skye Gellmann