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ED2011 2/5 Reviews ED2011 Theatre Reviews
Eyes Wide Open (No Mushrooms Theatre Company)
By Andrew Bell | Published on Wednesday 31 August 2011
‘Eyes Wide Open’ never met a cliché it didn’t like. From the saner-than-her-doctors madwoman arguing rings around her psychiatrist, to the persistent vegetative state-sufferer getting up and shouting, “I’m alive!” (but only in her mind) before being unplugged, this show hits every hoary old chestnut going. The direction attempts to be sinisterly arty but just comes off as slow and repetitive, whilst the sound design is grating. On the other hand, the acting is pretty solid, albeit with the odd wooden moment; during the first half of the ‘unplugged’, tale there is a glimmer of hope of something fresh and new. Sadly, such innovation is extinguished as ruthlessly as the coma patient herself in ‘Eyes Wide Open’.
theSpaces at Surgeon’s Hall, 24 – 25 Aug, 1.40pm (2.20pm), £3.00 – £5.00, fpp260.
tw rating 2/5
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