The Place, London
September 24, 2025
What should have been a riveting and engaging multimedia work, by the halfway mark had turned into a single-tone monologue that was anything but riveting and engaging. Anatomy of Survival starts well, with an amusing tongue-in-cheek video, which leads into an incident in a coffee shop, that provides the raison-d’etre for the piece.
This is concept theatre, but not at its best. The story revolves around a woman trying to buy a coffee, and the barista not understanding what she wanted. The concept here is that we all react differently to the same situation, depending on our nervous system. This is a idea that most people can run with. So far, so good.
Next, the audience is treated to 22 different opinions from the (imagined) variety of people who overheard the exchange. Unfortunately, they neither resonate as true or even, for most of them, believable.
The focus remains on the woman who had tried to order a coffee, the work following her through a series of episodes where she tries to escape her anger over the coffee incident. A bizarre element comes when one of the three actor/dancers plays a bear, with an extremely realistic head piece on.
There is dancing at several points, modern-pop style, which was executed well, but the choreography, by Requardt, lacks flair and interest. Musically, an original song, composed by Dave Price was a highlight. The lighting was also well done by Lucy Hansom.
It is a pity that the co-directors didn’t chose to tell far more of the story through dance and song, the result may have been far more engaging.