"An empty stage. A chair with a jacket hanging over it. A microphone. Through the speakers we hear a familiar announcement which we might have heard earlier on T.V.: “We start tonight with one of those tragic cases no one can understand. On Saturday, November 15, a young woman was attacked in the Euston area.” At the crime scene there was a coat, a chair with a jacket draped over it… and rows of people, all facing in the same direction. “What follows now is a reconstruction, using actors. We hope it will help you remember something, anything.”
The opening minute of Wendy Houston’s Haunted, Daunted and Flaunted immediately sets the tone of her dance/theatre trilogy. Deadly serious drama that twists itself into comedy. Funny chit-chat turning into bitter social critique. Nowadays, True and False have become rather confusing terms.
Remember Wendy’s last appearance on a Ljubljana stage? At the end of DV8’s Bound to Please, she had a furious outburst against a guy in the audience who had, quite inconsiderately, taken a picture with a flash. Only when we showed sympathy with the actress and joined her feelings of indignation did we realise that her “sincere, spontaneous” reaction was a set-up.
In Haunted, Daunted and Flaunted Wendy’s words move us from one atmosphere to another. Her movements travel from character to character. She glides effortlessly between fantasy and truth, whilst dealing with realities which are deeply affecting and serious.
