Mary Leland reviews the Fringe production of Torn at the Granary Theatre in Cork

Torn

Granary Theatre, Cork

Mary Leland

An inbuilt problem with multimedia theatre, as demonstrated in this Fringe production of Torn at the Granary, is that one aspect of media can sometimes eclipse another. Here the dance element and the work with reams of paper become far more interesting than the spoken word, which seems almost to interrupt the diverting choreography, animate and inanimate, provided by the paper and its manipulators. It has to be said, however, that this collaboration between writer Moray Bresnihan of Material Theatre and Wolfgang Hoffman of Fabrik Potsdam suggests an exciting fusion of talent and imagination. Whether it could be sustained beyond its hour-long duration is still doubtful, and whether it would have quite so much impact without the music of Majnoon Yehudi are issues yet to be decided.

The slender narrative suggests the human search for love; limbed like a crustacean, a paper figure represents this seeking with rather more power than the articulated script, but the whole performance, with Amelia Chapman leading a group of dancers who lack her finesse but not her commitment, is influenced by professionalism and is full of imagery and promise.