★★★☆☆

At the beginning of May, Soho Theatre hosted Flabbergast Theatre’s absurdist play, Paper Swans.

The play by Vyte Garriga (London based actress, writer and physical theatre performer from Lithuania) asks the question “why does everything have to have a reason?”.

Garriga plays the ballet-clad protagonist, Anna, in this two-person show alongside Daniel Chrisostomou, who plays Peter, a security guard.

We’re left wondering so what about the paper swans, what is their meaning and why did Anna have to make them by morning to cover a frozen lake? The characters are stuck in a groundhog day time loop where each time that Peter gets closer to understanding, it means the day can end; but, each time he has to ask ‘but why’, they have to begin their first encounter again.

Anna just wants Peter to help build her paper swans, with child-like fancy, covering something more traumatic as Anna appears as a ballet dancer hinting at the story of her life before she loses her grip on sanity and is shown frolicking in blood which stains her white leotard and dress.

Both characters appeared ghostly throughout the staging, not least by the white paint on their faces, but a clear absurdist reenactment from the afterlife. It becomes clear that Anna is not the only one from the otherside of this life, but Peter realises he may not be alive either.

See more here, and for other Soho Theatre shows: https://sohotheatre.com/events/paper-swans/