Golem
Home, Manchester
3/5

THEATRE company 1927 came to prominence at the Edinburgh fringe four years ago with their quirky The Animals and Children Took to the Streets and they’ve made a name for themselves by ingeniously combining performance, live music, animation and film in their productions.

Their current show Golem wowed audiences at the Young Vic in London last year before embarking on a critically acclaimed international tour. Now it’s back in Britain and, with CCTV on every street corner and the power of Facebook, Google and wiz kid advertising gurus weaving their manipulative spells, this smart satire is a timely reminder that so-called progressive advances in technology can be as dangerous as they may be liberating.

Set in a time when there were still libraries and people read books and used pencils, this adaptation by Suzanne Andrade is based on Gustav Meyrink’s 1914 novel Golem, a character from Jewish folklore.

The mysterious creature represents the Prague ghetto’s spirit which is brought to life by the people’s suffering and misery and the prototype Golem is a sad, oversized version of Tony Hart’s Morph. Made of clay, he has no free will and can only obey and, while initially obedient and pliable, following a few upgrades a new sophisticated model becomes a very different beast.

Robert Robinson is a geek, a bore, and plods through his day working as a clerk in the binary backup unit. His Golem soon becomes the puppet master as Robinson’s head is turned by the bright lights while his old world fades away. Who is now in control of whom?

The script is funny, with some sharp one-liners and the incorporation of animation and film into the action is astonishing even if, at times, a little disorientating.

The cast of five very talented young actors not only play multiple characters but also provide the live music.

Critics have described 1927’s work as groundbreaking but in many ways it is following in the tradition of great theatres like Laterna Magika who in ’60s-’70s Czechoslovakia performed fantastic spectacles by combining ballet, theatre and film.

Worth catching.

Runs October 17, box office: homemcr.org