Lucy & Me | Nicolas Angelosanto
After a week in lockdown, it was an absolute privilege to be back in the theatre. I was thrilled to find myself in a darkened room, surrounded by strangers, collectively laughing our guts out at the eccentric personalities that graced the stage. Theatre makers, Jennifer Laycock and Nicolas Angelosanto performed back-to-back character comedies Plastica Fantastica and Lucy & Me at Backdock Arts.
Lucy & Me charmed me with the tale of man, Sphenn, and his bike, Lucy, trying to get home to Germany. We followed the two on wacky adventures as they tried to make money for a plane ticket. Sphenn was part trickster and part fool, an effeminate, romantic, simple-minded, European caricature. Nicolas brought enthusiasm, extremity and maintained his character well. I enjoyed his commitment to silliness, wiggling his whole body or licking the corners of a stamp feverishly until he got a laugh.
The story felt episodic. Scenes would begin in the realm of reality then evolve into something ridiculous, such as a Zumba track on an old radio that could hear you and could not be turned off. These were entertaining, but weren’t brought back to reality to further the plot. I sought a stronger sense of ‘why’ to keep me engaged and invested. The pacing felt fast, which meant there was never a boring moment, but some jokes didn't have a chance to land.
Nicolas used a mix of literal props as well as mimed props, which brought unexpected moments of absurdity. A fake moustache stuck over his own moustache had the audience in stitches as it threatened to fall off throughout the scene. At one point, Sphenn transformed his knee into a puppet of his younger self using a plastic nose. I couldn’t take my eyes off the knee. How could it be so inanimate yet so expressive? Genius.
I was also thrilled by the idea of a bike as a co-star, but Lucy felt like more like a prop than a character. I would love to be taken deeper into Sphenn’s delusion.
Lucy & Me was strong in its silliness and exuberance, but could lean into more moments of sadness and darkness to give the show greater depth.
