To be led, blindfolded, into a room, then seated amid the sharp hiss of static, strangled voices and discordant music is a profoundly disorientating experience. We are left isolated, alone in the dark, to enjoy two of Samuel Beckett’s less well known works; voices and sounds assault our ears, disquieting and compelling in equal measure. The short plays themselves bear the hallmarks of classic Beckett – bleakness of tone, crudity and sophistication juxtaposed – and are enhanced profoundly by the absence of vision. At the end we walked, blinking, into a dimly lit room, seeming bright by comparison, and it was as if we had endured some elemental experience alone, which had somehow brought us together.

C nova, until 31 Aug.
tw rating 5/5 | [Andrew Leask]