Jumpers review, Tabard Theatre

In his study, the intellectually precise Professor George Moore struggles to articulate the imprecisions of moral philosophy and the possibility of not one, but two, Gods. In the bedroom, fresh from a night celebrating her birthday with music, dancing and a troupe of acrobats - the Jumpers - his wife, the dizzy and depressed sexy singing sensation, Dotty, is trying to hide a dead body.

Star jumpers

As Moore outlines the rudiments of motion paradoxes suggesting missiles never actually hit their targets and that a hare that gives a tortoise a head start in a race can never catch up, we are aware of his own inability to catch up with Dotty whose depression is at that moment being addressed by the creepy university Vice-Chancellor, Archie. As Dotty, Emily Shaw is translucent. Toby Eddington is a credible, bumbling, George, yearning for intimacy yet repelled by his wife's secret life within the confines of a tiny, curtained, four poster filled with people and secrets.

When what is under our own roof is unknowable, when people defy logic, when an entire university department is a maelstrom of clashing theories and crossed wires, nothing is absolute. Does it matter?  Stoppard's eccentric whodunnit juxtaposes the musings of philosophers with the smoke and mirrors magic of finely tuned circus acts. Nothing is what it seems. So what?  That, anyway, is the thrust of this joyful rendition which minimises the radical politics of the piece but compensates for that fuzziness with energy and intimacy.

In conclusion: The first half could be tighter, but Madeleine Loftin's production works elegantly in a tiny space. The versatile set peopled by funny and maverick characters well serve a script that even when unpolished shines bright.

References
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