The concept behind the Young Vic and I guess also the Old Vic is the accessibility of the theatre to all-comers. This means a small theatre and unreserved seating. To some extent someone like me is filled with apprehension with not having concrete seats but I guess it generates some sort of excitement and guesswork about where to sit. They promise at the Young Vic that you are never more than seven rows from the front. At today’s Amazonia I was on the “stall” level and was in the back row (by choice) and it was only five rows from the front of the stage. I probably should have asked the ushers where to sit rather than sitting randomly as I ended up sitting near the band! Amazonia didn’t lend itself to a traditional “front” of the stage anyway as it’s a circular stage so really any seat was a good seat this evening.

For tonight’s show, and quite possibly most shows, there were at least two giant groups in attendance – one of around grade three age kids (maybe 40+ of them) and one group of slightly order kids (around about 15 years old.) I asked one of the ushers if she’d seen the show and said yes – its good for kids. Then I asked her what about adults and she laughed and said “you’ll see!”

I’d gotten to the show quite early so had quite some time to look around the venue. The band “pit” was very interesting and they had all sorts of weird and wonderful instruments, native to Brazil I imagine, in there. There were lots of wooden sticks, shells and what not. There were only three people in the band so I imagine it was quite a job for them to co-ordinate who would play what at various stages.

So, basically, other than being a bit distracted by the fact that the cast had all sorts of different accents, none of which are actually native to the Amazon basin I’m sure, and not really being able to understand the first part of the performance, Amazonia turned out to be quite a good story and show. It tells the tale of a small village which attempts to save the Amazon from de-forestation.

The show uses all sorts of technique to get the story across including an acrobat who spun down in two curtains and proceeded to both sing opera and gyrate around in her curtains, splashing water on the crowd at various stages of the show (I’m glad I avoided the Splash Zone because they certainly got a soaking), singing and dancing, including a beautiful performance piece between the main female and her young lover (her young lover was tremendously and mouth-wateringly fit. Oh my!), and even a male on male kiss (though it was a simulation of a man resuscitating a bull – don’t even ask!)
The in-the-round works quite well actually in this type of show and allows the cast to really get around physically. It was funny because the cast would often run, at full pelt, right to the edge of the stage only to stop themselves at the last minute and I could see the school kids reeling back with real fear (and excitement) in their eyes at the thought the cast would fall off the stage!

I quite enjoyed the performance and I think it was actually based on a real life story. This show is really what theatre is all about. Sure the big West End polished huge musicals are great but this is about the little guy and making the most of what you have (I would presume a much smaller budget for one!) Whilst not exactly experimental theatre it was clear that the writer thought pretty creatively on this one. Great score too!