Jennifer Jackson’s Endurance is a near-one-woman show of our protagonist challenging herself to overcome the tough physical and mental barriers and embrace her heritage in a challenging feat. Tackling her past, the expectations of herself and from others, and a variety of other obstacles, this show has a strong concept underlying it.
Unfortunately, reviewing involves looking at shows, as well as concepts. And this show was bad.
Audiences are met with an hour-and-a-half workout, most of it narrated and over-spoken by generic computer voice, and all of it incredibly dull to watch. At least half of the production’s runtime (literally) is filled with Jackson jogging the same 15-metre arc in a Bleep Test format, all whilst the disembodied computer voice narrates her inner monologue? The voice of her critics? Both? This is never explained. Whilst the voiceover is slightly comedic at points, one line spoken particularly stands out: “Jenni could go on forever”. And here I was thinking she already had.
This running action would then occasionally be interrupted with some form of interpretive dance, mental breakdown-esque moment or the introduction of a skull-headed man, a reference to an earlier information video that had been displayed whilst Jackson was still running. It is never explained who this is, why it has appeared or what their interaction means, but even this was repetitive, using the same few moves cyclically until, remarkably, I was hoping the running would return!
And that’s before we talk about the use of tech, graphics and sound in this production. All of the (minimal) lighting that was used felt superfluous and largely added little to the viewing experience, and the graphics displayed on the screen behind the playing space served little more than somewhere else to look when the dash from one side to the other became monotonous. As for sound, this is where some serious issues came into play.
I’m not one to become overwhelmed by technical or special effects, but hearing ‘Jenni’ said repeatedly at a rapid pace by the disembodied computer voice, non-stop for the best part of a minute, whilst the word ‘Jenni’ flashed in black and white on the screen in front of me and the introduction of an unnecessary high-pitched whine was tough even for me. It was a relatively short moment, but one that left me particularly uneasy, and would be problematic for a vast variety of people.
This production has been previously shortlisted for awards, and Jackson is an award-winning theatre practitioner herself. And whilst the concept may be, its execution is far from it. Unfortunately, to put it bluntly, watching Endurance is itself an endurance challenge. Whilst impressive in some aspects, this production is simply not enjoyable to watch and I struggled to get through this marathon ninety minutes.
Rating: ★☆☆☆☆
Endurance played at the Tanya Moiseiwitsch Playhouse from January 31st until February 1st
