Fossils

Fossils is an intriguing play where scepticism meets the loch ness monster. With a fantastically designed set and awesome soundscape, the quirky atmosphere is set the instant you walk into the room. The story follows Vanessa (brilliantly performed by Helen Vinten), a successful research scientist, on her journey to discovering the cause of her dad's disappearance. Her journey challenges her to question fact and fiction and follows a delightful quest-style narrative.

A fantastically inventive piece of theatre with a charming story and well worth your time.

Adam Farrell and David Ridley are charming as two intern scientists in the lab with their lame jokes and quirky stylised movement. They create the soundscapes for the show at the back of the stage with loop pedals, fascinating electronic equipment and their voices, adding a lovely whimsical element to the show. The music in it's own right is exceptionally good, although at times distracting from the main narrative, and perhaps a little overindulgent in the long interludes between scenes.

With only three actors, they are creative with other characters, sometimes playing them themselves, and at other times using toy dinosaurs to represent them. The style of production is excellent, moving from stylised movement and abstract representation to moving and sincere interactions between characters. I particularly enjoyed the sequence in the car where they used drum sticks to represent windscreen wipers and musical comedy to emphasise the dullness of a very long car journey. Bucket Club show us that minimal props and good staging are enough to bring a story alive. Their style is reminiscent of Filter Theatre Company, which can never be a bad thing.

At times the writing felt a little stilted and cliche, especially in the emotionally charged speeches from Vanessa, and perhaps could benefit from some editing, but all in all, Fossils is a fantastically inventive piece of theatre with a charming story and well worth your time.