Review: Cascando (Jermyn Street Theatre)

Review by Oliver Briggs

⭐️⭐️⭐️

There is something truly unique and emotive about this production of the radio play Cascando. Written in 1961 by Irish-born Samuel Beckett (Known for works such as Endgame and Waiting for Godot) and directed by Gavin Quinn (Co-Founder of Pan Pan theatre). This promenade piece had the audience fully immersed with dark cloaks, headphones, and a 30-minute, thought-provoking walk down the streets around Jermyn Street Theatre. It was a beautiful reflection of the efforts and struggles behind the sometimes demotivating and repetitive creative process, more often known as the creative block.

Upon asking myself, Why walk the streets of London for this performance in dark cloaks with headphones? I noticed how isolated I felt, how, despite everyone following the same journey and process, I felt alone, alone and tired. As the walk begins, everybody is organised into a single-file line and asked to walk at a moderate pace with heads slightly down. Over the 30 minutes, it begins to mirror the words and the tone of the play, where it’s taking more effort and more focus over time to continue, but you can't stop. “If you could finish it… you could rest”. Alas, you can’t, you’re not finished, so you can’t rest, you must keep walking. When you realise this piece is not about a plot, but instead the creation of a plot, the walking becomes so much more than just justified; in fact, I believe the walking makes this interpretation of the text infinitely more powerful than any simple radio broadcast could ever be.

I’d also like to bring some attention to the simple design of the play (designed by Aedín Cosgrove). Of which there is really only one notable element, the dark cloaks. What is so significant about having everyone wear a dark cloak instead of just wearing headphones and walking? It’s because this production is not only for you to experience. You’re also an actor in a performance for the people of London to experience. As (from the public’s perspective) a line of cloaked individuals walk the streets of London in silence, their attention is drawn. 

It puts pressure on the audience listening to the play. Without this added pressure, without the feeling of eyes focused on you, I feel a lot of the poetry would have been lost. Furthermore, the hood of the cloak keeps your focus forwards (and slightly down), focused on your own path, focused on continuing your story. So focused, in fact, that despite my efforts on Google Maps, I could not tell you what streets we went down because you are zoned in and focused on the play.

The audio you listen to as you walk (designed by Jimmy Eadie) is packed with small yet effective nuances within the design. Throughout the audio, you experience an abundance of spoken words and music, at times both, but what initially struck me is how often the audio would end suddenly; there was no simple fade out, there was no final word to the sentence, just a… The reason it’s so effective is that it’s like the script hits a brick wall within the creative process, which is what Cascando is all about. That creative block, that struggle to continue. The sudden stop induces stress, curiosity, and a need to know more. A real reflection on how even if you’re on a hot streak as a creative, you can still hit the same brick wall. On top of this, I noticed how some lines (when repeated) were not spoken fresh and new by the person voicing the role, but instead copied and pasted from the recordings of the word spoken before, which further reinforced the repetitive nature of the struggles of creatives.

The play was voice-acted by Daniel Reardon as Opener and Andrew Bennett as Voice, under the direction of Gavin Quinn, with dramaturgy done by Nicholas Johnson. Now, despite the production's well-thought-out direction and design, I do find a few setbacks. Walking the streets of London, completely focused, though poetically beautiful, does come with its challenges. London is a famously busy city, and so when crossing roads or walking around (particularly when it started to become dark), I found it harder at times to focus on the story with the beaming LED headlights of a taxi, or the ringing of the bell on a Boris Bike. I also feel that the source material just didn't offer too much to work from, so what the creatives have done with it is amazing, but when you look at the bigger picture, there just is not… much.

My final thoughts are that, despite its short run-time (or walk-time…), Cascando is a production you’ll want to see and feel, especially if you consider yourself to be a creative person or within a creative industry, because it is a true reflection on how life can feel at times.

Cascando plays at (and around) the Jermyn Street Theatre until September 13th

For tickets and information visit https://www.jermynstreettheatre.co.uk/show/cascando/

Photos by Greta Zabulyte