Written for Spoonfed, London Theatre:

Idle Motion take Michael Fish’s 1987 weather forecast fail as the starting point of their beautifully contemplative show, The Seagull Effect – a rare example of effective use of multimedia in theatre.

The intimate physical dynamics between the characters and the imagery of this show are reminiscent of Faction Theatre’s rather slick Lovesong. But Idle Motion take on a younger, less stable romance and chart the reunion of a couple who’ve long been pulled apart physically if not emotionally. They also reveal the journey of a wannabe weather analyst as she struggles to make it to a job interview on time, all the while charting the near misses and happy accidents that the storm catalyses. They dwell romantically in the innumerable possibilities of life and its chaos, playing with the notion of fate.

They give a respectful nod to the storm’s fatalities which hits that emotional nail more so than any other element, which means that as sweet as the couple are and as hopeful as the young weather analyst is, things only really get interesting when they get to chew on the tough, grisly bits of their relationships and life’s challenges. Unfortunately, in this production, doesn’t happen often enough.

For more Idle Motion, see Vicky Sparrow’s review of The Vanishing Horizon.