Cento Cose

Cento Cose ("one hundred things" in Italian) is apparently a response to the crushing number of tasks which bog down our everyday lives. So perhaps it’s fitting that this performance is befuddling and repetitive. Compagnia della Quarta’s multimedia response to the confusion and boredom we all feel during our working lives hits the mark far too accurately. This is a baffling and messy production which comprehensively fails to communicate with its audience.

Set against a backdrop of heavy music from the likes of Aphex Twin, the three performers dance around the stage in choreography that seems random at best and half-arsed at worst. Banal day-to-day expressions flash up on the screen behind the dancers, but the lack of any dialogue between these phrases and the movement renders them as meaningless as they are in real life. 

Occasionally a Big Brother style malcontent (presumably representing ‘The Man’) appears and strikes terror into our three workhorses, but again, this is done with no frame of reference and so becomes powerless. The cast energetically throw themselves into each misguided decision, but it’s hard to feel any empathy for characters that are so slightly drawn. 

Well-meaning but completely misguided, Compagnia della Quarta seems like a company that could say something poignant if they created a simpler piece and made clearer choices. As it is, Cento Cose doesn’t translate one thing to its audience, let alone one hundred.