FISH
2000

Fish

"Imagine Barabbas conducting a Pythonesque update of Abbot and Costello. Big Telly's tale revolves in erratic orbits around the events of a wedding day, but forget plot, narrative or character development. Fish is a multimedia experiment in surrealist escapism that involves illusion, physical comedy and music in what seems to be Victorian vaudeville. The music includes Supertramp, Placebo and Tchaikovski, which gives you an idea of the company's eclecticism. The endearing enthusiasm of Mary McNally, Donal Beecher and Paul McEneaney carries the day, while Barrington gives a superb performance of clowning. Under Zoë Seaton's direction, it becomes a satisfying cohesive whole."
The Sunday Times, Culture 22/10/00

"Fish was an innovative and unusual piece of theatre, positively bursting with energy a clever illusion of video, special effects comedy and magic, thrilling a large audience comprising of all age groups. The central story, forming the framework for a series of highly choreographed set pieces, concerns a young bride who goes missing at her wedding reception and the best man and groom's attempts to find her. The venue, on board HMS Caroline docked in Alexandra Wharf, in Belfast, was perfect for the staging of this production. The cast set up a fast paced roller coaster ride for the audience employing some impressive techniques of magic. The play had a poetic quality to it, with an internal pace and rhythm suggesting a connection between the various elements without ever overstating it. This play defies definition. It employed so many theatrical techniques it would be difficult to pigeonhole it as dance, drama, comedy or even magic. But one thing is certain, the four-member cast kept the audience spellbound for over an hour with the precision of their timing and excellent performances and they should be congratulated for their high-energy performances, especially as there were two seatings each night. One of the main strengths of the Belfast Festival at Queens is that it gives space to productions like this, which seek to push the bounds of theatre as far as they can go."
The Irish News 13/11/2000