Hugh Hughes is one of the most engaging and charismatic story teller around. From the multimedia, fantastical and whimsical tale of Anglesey drifting away on a world tour in “Floating” to the bare staged tale of friendship and growing up in “360”, the audience clung to every word of his. In this new show, Hugh Hughes, the alter ego of Shôn Dale-Jones, shared the stage with his two siblings using a combination of music, film and audio charting the dynamics of sibling relationships around a time when their mother was moving out of the house where they grew up. It is a more ambitious piece examining subtleties of sibling connections and how they cope with the responsibility of being in charge of the family. It was a lot more hard edge than the previous shows with more friction and unease between Hugh’s brother and sister with the usual good natured and eternally positive Hugh in the middle. The underlying hostilities was presented with a gloss and whimsy which did not always succeed and came across as quite awkward at times. Having said that, some of individual elements of the show worked well and the film towards the end of the first half was great. I appreciate the ambition of the project but it did not always hit the mark with what it is trying to achieve. The siblings were engaging and interesting but the charm and appeal of Hugh Hughes was diluted by their presence. Also, I think it is over-long in its current form and much more enjoyable as a 90 minutes piece.
Chris' Weblog 