'Sirens'- Zoo Co

I have to be honest I had not heard of this company before the show, but boy did they make an impression on me.

Established in 2013, Zoo Co are led by artistic director Florence O’Mahony, and pride themselves on their ‘explosive visual imagination’. Their latest award winning production ‘Sirens’ explores gender expectations through the eyes of 3 mythological beings, the sirens, as they attempt to rewrite history and show the world who they really are. With voices that will lead any man to his death, they are forced into silence, but find a loophole when they meet a deaf man.

Where can I start with this piece? It was comical but emotionally impactful, ditsy and slapstick but also maintained an underlying seriousness with its messages that although were not always very subtly given out, were very valuable.

The show was a bit of a muddle through in the beginning, but quickly gained sophistication as it moved forwards, and although at first I was not a fan of the basic costuming, with labels on a white t-shirt, the show persuaded me it was for comic effect and narrative, which I gradually began to agree with.

The obvious thing to instantly babble about was the breath-taking use of BSL, which was instrumental to the success of the performance. Although it can often be a daunting mission to tackle, this company proved that by taking sign language by the horns and shoving it in the audiences face, it becomes highly engaging and inspiring. I massively commend the cast, who all underwent an intensive course in order to sign for the performance, but it is William Grint, with BSL as his first language that really stole the show, and never have I seen such brilliant acting without the use of a single spoken word. It was brilliant to see sign language used not as a way to show off the company’s inclusivity, but rather, recognised as a real art form in itself – Zoo Co deserve recognition for this.

The company made good use of technology to underpin the signing, with subtitles cleverly appearing in projections on pop up scenery and on the backdrop surrounding the characters. This was a perfect way to ensure both the hard of hearing/deaf community could understand the spoken word, and the hearing audience members could understand the signing. Timothy Kelly is responsible for what appears to be every tech component of the show, and has done an outstanding job of piecing it all together, using original drawings that are projected to create 4 dimensional scenes from 2 dimensional images. There were also some very nice touches in there when the cast were able to interact with the projections and I would love to see more of this.

We learn that the story takes on quite the feminist view point as we move through the piece, creating some relatable moments (if you can believe it) when comparing yourself to a Greek myth, and after speaking with the director herself following the show, it is apparent that that had become quite a vital component for her. ‘Flo’s passion behind her words clearly translated into this performance and she has done an excellent job at balancing entertainment quality with making a real statement.

The performance oozed exuberance and was a delight to watch, although at times I had to contemplate whether the phrase 'less is more' should have been considered with regards to the volume of acting, particularly when the sections became more sincere. It was a shame about the glitches in tech towards the end, but by then you had me on side and I didn’t care all too much – I was too dazzled by the seamless combination of BSL and tech. Overall though this company really is one to watch and I can’t wait to see what they will come out with next.

The company are touring with this work until October 2019, but by the looks of things, have plenty more in the works for us, and I would highly recommend you grab a ticket while you can.