Chameleon by Britt Plummer changes colour for Rumpus season
Physical theatre performer Britt Plummer has reworked her 2019 Fringe solo show to become an ensemble piece for a season at Rumpus Theatre in Bowden.
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Chameleon, by actor, creator and teacher Britt Plummer, began its life as a solo show in the 2019 Fringe.
The title refers to the ways in which we’re tempted, or forced, to adapt. Loosely confessional, it’s something of a “journey so far”, from infancy and childhood, through the awkward teens and into adulthood.
The most memorable part of Chameleon was, and remains, the long sequence on life in Paris, where Plummer lived and trained for some years.
Her life was wonderful in many ways, but overwhelming in others, not least the danger for a lone woman at night in the city. It is here that her skill and experience in clowning come shining through: it is theatrically very effective.
It’s worth remembering that the chameleon’s crazy colour changes aren’t for camouflage, they’re a warning. A couple of fluorescent fallopian tubes let you know that in no uncertain terms.
Expanding Chameleon into an ensemble piece adds energy to what was originally a darker work, not least through the multiplicity of glitzy costumes in every colour of the rainbow.
The transition from dark to light is deliberate, and effective on occasion, but not consistently.
Director Hew Parham needs to keep a much tighter rein on the five-strong cast, where excited cries rapidly descend into shrieking disorder, time and time again.
Singing, too – a reworked Cell Block Tango is great, but the voices aren’t up to it. Clowning class for everyone, methinks.
Chameleon
Rumpus Theatre, Bowden
September 17 to 27