Every hero has his weakness: Superman his kryptonite, Bond his martinis, but Toby—like the rest of us—might have more than just one. But how will Toby deal with the realisation that he may not be a perfect reflection of the buff, Hollywood heroes he loves to watch on the silver screen? That is precisely the question that intrigues any audience of Piers Black’s fierce yet intimate new solo show Catching Comets playing at the Pleasance Courtyard.
As a comet hurdles straight toward earth, doom also closes in on Toby’s relationship and he must use all his superhuman strength and human compassion to rescue them both. Told through a split narrative, both plots are equally thrilling and buttressed by creative and versatile production values.
Catching Comets’ Ali Michael combines the familiar insecurities of modern love with the quirky and exaggerated imagination of a hard-core action cinephile. Michael offers an engaging and excitable performance in a character study that extends far beyond the limitations of any Hollywood action hero and challenges our preconceptions of what real, quotidian bravery is.
Toby’s fantasy action sequences play to the best of the film genre’s tropes while remaining endearingly self-aware. The show incorporates the athletic miming of flawless fight montages and much talk of shiny escape vehicles. Michael’s farcical physical embodiment of Toby’s macho alter ego is therefore extremely commendable, especially since Toby is such a shy and honest parallel.
This contrast in characters is achieved expertly through a creative and versatile use of lighting and sound design. Toby’s superman persona fights crime to the swell of pulse-racing music while his robust silhouette is lit against neon spotlights. Toby himself wanders the stage somewhat lost and confesses his story to the audience under warm, calm light.
These technical dualities, among many others, help transform the stage into a reflection of Toby’s internal conflict to find bravery in his everyday life and not just in the hero’s he loves to watch in the cinema.
In the modern age, masculinity and heroism are often synonymous, especially when they are displayed through the glamour of Hollywood blockbusters. But, as Catching Comets teaches us and as Toby must learn for himself, not every villain can be vanquished by the rattle of a machine gun.
