Star rating: ***
A change to the Arches Theatre Festival programme sees Maren Strack appear in Latex and not Muddclubsolo, as advertised. This means no squelchy flamenco in mud. However, Strack, in her stretchy silver latex gown - its hem nailed to the floor, thereby fixing her to the spot - does gyrate through sequences of proudly arching Spanish dance, intercut with disco shimmies. And, as she moves, the latex responds with a soundscore of slapping, snapping twangs and squeaks.
Did I mention the sewing machine? Well, Strack uses it to balance out the momentum of her twizzlings and lunges by hanging it as a counter-weight attached, via pulleys, to her hair. She falls, it rises. On one level it's symbolic of domestic labour and sweatshops, but there are moments when it seems like an accomplice in couture transformations. And, indeed, Strack used to sew her own dresses before she discovered latex, which is able to expand in brilliant complicity with her mercurial imagination.
With Latex, you take away the experience and your memories. With Will St Leger's Art Raid, there's the possibility to take away one of his works - if you're prepared to steal it. At first it's like a daring prank. Diddle the "security guards" - what a hoot. But soon folk are circling round the exhibits like watchful sharks marking out prey, ready for the alarm bell that will let them grab and run. Afterwards, outside: "I don't really like this " But she stole it, because she could. You get the picture - and its message, I'm sure.
From yesterday's later editions.
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