Wild Bore @ Traverse Theatre
Zoë Coombs Marr, Ursula Martinez and Adrienne Truscott's genre-defying show suggests that bad art may be the highest art form of all.
Attempting to review Wild Bore is a trap. The show decimates the rules of artistic analysis so completely and brilliantly that it is basically unreviewable. And if that doesn’t make you want to see it, we don’t know what will.
There are three women in the show (or are there?). Zoë Coombs Marr, Ursula Martinez and Adrienne Truscott are all seasoned performers and failures in their own right. Using the brutal critical receptions received by themselves and others as their inspiration, they play off the experience of being utterly slated by critics to suggest that bad art might just be the highest art form of all. And they do it by talking out of their arses. Literally.
The surprisingly ingenious conceit of talking bums on stage, complete with arse-crack gags galore, offers no shortage of opportunities for hysterical laughter. But this is by no means the extent of Wild Bore’s revolutionary foray into the realm of WTF. The show becomes increasingly absurd, gross and hilarious, as the performers maul the conventions of interpretation through crazy vignettes, over-the-top jokes, and excessive self-referentialism. Every twist and turn of this meticulously-crafted spectacle offers something new and unexpected, and the most maddening part is that it’s all done for no apparent reason at all – or is it??
The overall effect is a rough-and-ready, genre-defying commentary on the state of theatre today. It’s certainly provocative, and probably won’t be to everyone’s taste, whether good or bad; but Martinez, Truscott and Coombs Marr have created a truly original show that definitely won’t be forgotten in a hurry.
Wild Bore, Traverse Theatre, until 27 Aug (not 21), times vary, £9.50-21.50