THIS show has so much potential, it’s difficult to know why it doesn’t realise it. Visually, RAW is amazing: a large stage covered in ropes and aerial rigging, overlooked by a giant DJs’ booth, all lit to create a heady nightclub atmosphere.
Feeling the dance beat even before they’ve entered the building, four clubbers queue, eager for their night to begin. Once inside, the promise of sex, drugs and dancing slowly turns into a less pleasant reality.
There is the occasional comic moment, including a computer game-style face-off between two hostile girls, who swoop high and low to the appropriate sound effects, and a touching duet way up high, where a male and female performer clamber over each other, suspended by ropes. The brief but incredible male pole-dancing is also worthy of note.
Yet crucially, there is nothing here to latch on to. We’re not asked to care about any of the performers, so their respective come-downs mean very little. Despite expectations, RAW feels as shallow as the pool of water covering the stage in the closing moments.
Until 27 August. Today 9pm.
