*Vortex, London*
This semi-improvised nativity play was halfway between an imaginative jazz gig and a Pythonesque student review
In the Chaos Collective and Pop-Up Circus's semi-improvised, jazz-accompanied satire on a nativity play, Christmas has vanished in a computer error, the hospitals are all shut, and Mary winds up delivering Jesus amid the frozen foods in the local branch of Tesco. In between Mary's consultations with her infant-extraction specialist, a very funny interview with trombonist Raphael Clarkson as a Spanish-Polish installation artist dealing in Christmas trees and sofas, and other more or less haphazard shots at a comic narrative, the Pop-Up Circus Xmas Big Band (a seasonal edition of the excellent young Chaos orchestra) played enthrallingly warped traditional carols, and visual artists drew real-time back-projections of the action, such as it was. It all felt like an imaginative jazz gig with Loose Tubes roots had been bolted to a hurled-together student revue. But the music emphatically saved it.
Two fine improvising vocalists – the powerful, freewheeling Lauren Kinsella and a calmly sonorous Alice Zawadzki – anchored the songs. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen and Come All Ye Faithful segued over low brass and busy drums, Oh Come Let Us Adore Him had a straightish melody over caustic harmonies, and We Three Kings pitched anxious, witchy vocal swoops against the surging and barging of the band. A burst of piano-driven swing (the pianists Elliot Galvin and Matt Robinson enterprisingly swapped roles all night) ushered on Clarkson's Polish Spaniard, and a slamming, abstract O Come O Come Emmanuel and A Tango in Tesco bookended a dialogue about the wise men's gifts going through the checkout and myrrh being on a two-for-one offer. Regarding the yonder three stars for this review: two would have been more fitting if this had just been a satire, four if the musicians had kept it as an eccentric carol concert. But an uneven night left a heartening impression of the quixotic, optimistic and generously shared energies of London's young artistic community just the same.
• Did you catch this show – or any other recently? Tell us about it using #gdnreview
Rating: 3/5 Reported by guardian.co.uk 23 hours ago.
This semi-improvised nativity play was halfway between an imaginative jazz gig and a Pythonesque student review
In the Chaos Collective and Pop-Up Circus's semi-improvised, jazz-accompanied satire on a nativity play, Christmas has vanished in a computer error, the hospitals are all shut, and Mary winds up delivering Jesus amid the frozen foods in the local branch of Tesco. In between Mary's consultations with her infant-extraction specialist, a very funny interview with trombonist Raphael Clarkson as a Spanish-Polish installation artist dealing in Christmas trees and sofas, and other more or less haphazard shots at a comic narrative, the Pop-Up Circus Xmas Big Band (a seasonal edition of the excellent young Chaos orchestra) played enthrallingly warped traditional carols, and visual artists drew real-time back-projections of the action, such as it was. It all felt like an imaginative jazz gig with Loose Tubes roots had been bolted to a hurled-together student revue. But the music emphatically saved it.
Two fine improvising vocalists – the powerful, freewheeling Lauren Kinsella and a calmly sonorous Alice Zawadzki – anchored the songs. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen and Come All Ye Faithful segued over low brass and busy drums, Oh Come Let Us Adore Him had a straightish melody over caustic harmonies, and We Three Kings pitched anxious, witchy vocal swoops against the surging and barging of the band. A burst of piano-driven swing (the pianists Elliot Galvin and Matt Robinson enterprisingly swapped roles all night) ushered on Clarkson's Polish Spaniard, and a slamming, abstract O Come O Come Emmanuel and A Tango in Tesco bookended a dialogue about the wise men's gifts going through the checkout and myrrh being on a two-for-one offer. Regarding the yonder three stars for this review: two would have been more fitting if this had just been a satire, four if the musicians had kept it as an eccentric carol concert. But an uneven night left a heartening impression of the quixotic, optimistic and generously shared energies of London's young artistic community just the same.
• Did you catch this show – or any other recently? Tell us about it using #gdnreview
Rating: 3/5 Reported by guardian.co.uk 23 hours ago.