Triumph of imagination

Airswimming is the tale of two best friends Dora and Persephone who refer to each other affectionally as Dorph and Porph who find themselves in St. Dymphna’s Hospital for the Criminally Insane. Spanning over fifty years, the pair meet to undertake their daily duty of polishing the stairs and the bath. Written by Charlotte Jones in 1997, the characters in Airswimming still feel relevant and intriguing. Our protagonists personalities are almost kaleidoscopic, in that you are never sure exactly who you are going to encounter.

They laugh, they quarrel and soothe each other. Starting off as untrusting strangers it is touching to watch Dorph’s and Porph’s friendship to involve to one that is so close that they are bonded together like sisters. There are stellar performances from both Tanya Chainey as Dorph and Alison Nicol as Porph, their onstage chemistry is at its’ most tangible when they escape into their fantasy alter egos of Porph as Doris Day and Dorph as a toy solider of the highest regiment. Portraying insanity in a believable manner is no mean feat and the pair do so triumphantly.

The songs of Doris Day are recurring motifs throughout Airswimming. They are sung on stage, the use of a piano and a whistled version of Que Sera Sera acts as a particularly haunting ear-worm. Another memorable momentis the simple but effective choreographed unison of the duo going swimming through the air. Nicol’s gleeful childlike innocence foiled perfectly my Chainey’s brisk jolly-hockey-sticks manner.

In may be just quite how airless and hot the venue is, but at an hour and five minutes, Airswimming does feel a little long, and could perhaps do with some tightening in places.

Airswimming is dark, funny and surreal. A celebration of the triumph of imagination and above all the power of friendship.