Zoo Southside

Mercurial Belgian experimentalists Ontroered Goed spent much of the early part of their career winding up audiences, something that came to a head in their 2011 show Audience, in which they aggressily prodded and provoked their own punters, and even sought to express cynicism at the very idea of romanticising crowds and other mass movements. They’ve mellowed in recent years, settling into a middle age that has yielded several elegiac masterpieces including World without Us, Are we not drawn onward to new erA and their last Fringe outing, 2023’s deeply moving Funeral. New show Thanks for Being Here is supposed to be a thank you to their audiences for staying loyal: ‘for more than 20 years, Ontroerend Goed has been making interactive theatre for people who especially don't like interactive theatre. And we'll take your expectations into account’ runs the description. Whether it proves to be a sincere acknowledgement or something more sardonic is hard to say at this stage, but whatever happens it’s sure to be interesting. 

This review is from the Royal Court Theatre in London in December 2024. As Sutara Gayle’s intensely autobiographical show starts, the theatre sits in darkness, while a soulful, passionate, overture begins. Already, it feels like we’re bearing witness to something spiritual. And then we see her; Gayle, otherwise known as Lorna Gee stands angelic and sturdy, ready to tell her life story.  And what a remarkable story it is. The Legends of Them takes us back to reggae pioneer Gayle’s childhood in Brixton, through her sexual awakening, early music career and on a transformative trip to India. We see her moving from one school to the next, into the care system and finding her soul through singing. Is all of it coherent? Absolutely not. Gayle flits from the body of one person in her life to the next, sometimes without any change in her physicality at all. In just a few seconds, she is her mother, a child psychiatrist, and her sister. There is no sense of a linear structure, with the narrative jumping around haphazardly.  You’re sure to leave the theatre slightly bewildered. But, once you accept it is a bit of a minefield, Gayle’s otherworldly presence is hard to look away from. Blending music with history, video with raw emotion onstage, she is a force to be reckoned with. In scraps she reveals herself through her memories; scenes from her past flash into reality and then disappear once more. Gayle has had a life so rich that even one of her recollections could form a full play...