This sensory bombardment is an absolute delight

Double Vision, Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff ★★★★★

AS DOUBLE Vision accelerates towards its high camp conclusion, the audience is assaulted with sensations – not just sights and sounds but also smells, and the touch of ticker tape fluttering from the ceiling.

It’s gloriously disorienting: just as central character Mel struggles to deal with the sensory bombardment of restored sight after years of blindness, so the audience feels spun around, confused and overwhelmed.

A dark, funny murder mystery inspired by Hitchcock, David Lynch and Roald Dahl, it’s satisfyingly preposterous, placing most of the action on a cruise ship that offers cosmetic surgery along the way (cue a mad doctor, a freezer full of body parts, and a missing passenger). Interspersed with catchy musical numbers drawing on everything from folktronica to epic ballads and the soundtracks from Hitchcock films, it cleverly incorporates audio description into the production itself by having the narrators narrate, as well as act, their experiences. It’s a seamless and hugely effective approach that adds to the dream-like (and increasingly nightmarish) atmosphere.

The show is striking and memorable in so many ways: musically, the performances are outstanding, but equal weight should be given to the bewitching use of audio visual effects, which sees much of the action performed as a shadow show behind a gauze screen. This approach makes it possible to add extra characters to the cast of five, their presence mostly created through projection, but also through costume and the use of puppetry.

The musicians are also on stage, mistily visible through the screen, adding a gig-like element – especially as some of the actors also step in to play instruments.

At the heart of the storyline is the intense relationship between blind cruise singer Serena, played by Lisa Jên Brown, whose crystal clear voice soars and floats through Serena’s musical numbers, and waitress Mel, played by Mared Jarman, who convincingly portrays Mel’s blend of starry-eyed adoration and increasingly chilling control.

The show is laugh-out-loud funny, endlessly entertaining and utterly engrossing, its pace quickening to the point of frenzy. You’d be hard pressed to find a more ingenious and effective multi-sensory theatre experience.

Jenny White