‘You could see a thousand plays and encounter nothing like this’

PLENTY OF FISH IN THE SEA New Theatre, September 19 Until September 21 Reviewed by JOHN SHAND ★★★★ Just when you’re ready to scream at the endless earnest, predictable, naturalistic plays cluttering our stages, along comes Plenty of Fish in the Sea . It’s a timely reminder that theatre need not be so desperate to fulfil its dull aspiration of merely ticking the box marked “relevance”: that there are other fish to fry, if you will; that theatre can also be daring, imaginative and impish. Plenty of Fish delights with images of such power as to sear your optic nerve, or with constantly surprising and sometimes exhilarating music.

It can also trigger uproarious laughter even while it causes you to think. Madeline Baghurst plays a French nun. Credit: Geoff Magee Photography A particular strength of the play is that it doesn’t do your thinking for you.

It confronts you with images, words, music and metaphors, and you puzzle out your own meaning. You may even decide not to worry whether it’s “about” anything but just ride the waves of wonder and laughter, of surrealism and clowning, and take it all at face value. It was devised and directed by Clockfire Theatre Company’s Emily Ayoub and Madeline Baghurst, who are joined by Christopher Samuel Carroll to perform it.

Baghurst plays a French nun, Ayoub a mute cook, and Carroll, a shipwreck survivor who is reeled in by the nun and then taught to fish. The metaphor lies with dating, specifically online dating, an.