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Sport is innately theatrical. In fact the argument could certainly be made that sport moves people more deeply than traditional theatre itself. It regularly moves people to tears, unsurpassed euphoria, blood curdling malice and utter desolation, sometimes in the same two hour period. There is undoubtedly drama to sport and few sports more so than the beautiful game soccer (or football for our northern neighbours). In SDS1 Ahilan Ratnamohan transforms the on-field drama into a high-energy on stage performance that sits somewhere in between.
Ratnamohan clearly sets the psyche of the sporting hero as his focus and indeed the aesthetic of a single performer enhances rather than negates the intangible presence of teammates, officials and screaming fans. You are acutely aware of what should be there but, being forced to focus on an individual presence, you start to see a single part of the machine and a rather lonely one at that.
There are a number of other clever motifs. The staging is excellent and transports you from under the flood lights of a pulsating game to the more sombre sidelines of the practice field with ease. The taping up worked well as an indicator of the athlete’s constant mental and physical battle to stay complete.
Yet for all these well thought out components, the full drama of the pitch never quite made its way on to the stage. The heart wrenching emotions and intensity that can reduce even the most macho rugby player to tears, the soul crushing pressure of a penalty shoot-out, the injustice of a career ending injury or just the despondence of never quite making it. There are a plethora of archetypal sports stories that move us in different ways but SDS1, while impressive, was not able to tap into this limitless source of emotion.
There were still some wonderful moments. Ratnamohan dragging himself desperately over the floor, leaving a trail of expended energy behind him, a tongue in cheek jibe at the absurdity of sporting traditions such as the swapping of sweat drenched jerseys, to name a few.
The combination of sport and theatre is an interesting one. On the one hand sport is a dramatic enough performance on its own. One need only watch an English Premier League fixture to see some of the most audacious acting going around. On the other, there is so much to sport; in our fascination with it and its stars, in the almost religious effect it has on us and its answer to our deeply tribal needs. Ahilan Ratnamohan is certainly on to something. He just needs to situate both feet thematically on either the playing field or the stage floor to really penetrate an audience in the way sport penetrates the crowd.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Stars
Presented by Arts House and Mobile States
Creator & Performer Ahilan Ratnamohan
Dramaturge Kristof Persyn
Tour Producer Performing Lines
Lighting Designer Mirabelle Wouters
Outside Eye Lee Wilson​
