Crying Out Loud Blog

So as Race Horse rest themselves before their European tour, we look back on the broad landscape of their critical success — in the Guardian, The Times, The Portsmouth and The Highland News, on Spoonfed and Whatsonstage and The British Theatre Guide — and using this aggregate data-set, with the intention only of saving your precious time, we offer the entire spectrum of critical response mashed into a single review:

Race Horse Company
Petit Mal
@Nuffield Theatre, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Lighthouse, Eden Court
31 May – 2 June, 4-6 June, 8 June, 15-16 June

Petit Mal is more exciting than South Africa V Uruguay. It is an anarchic cocktail of choreographed insanity that sticks two fingers up to health and safety. It reads Lewis Carol and watches Scrapheap Challenge. It is reasonable family entertainment spoiling for a fight. 

Petri Tuominen is sullen, belligerent, ape-like and has a personal grudge. Rauli Kosonen is either like a feather or A.A. Milne’s Tigger; he is disconcertingly seductive (when in horse form), the ultimate Michelin Man, and destined for a successful career in gay cabaret. Kalle Lehto is underconsidered, but considered rangey.

All three are self-absorbed and brooding,  playful and competitive and menacing and confrontational. They are street-wise dudes and also school boys. They are masculine, masculine, masculine.

So: kill for a ticket.

*************** <– 15 Stars.

Reviewed by Lyn Gardner, Donald Hutera, Simon Cole, PB, Naima Khan, Terry O’Donovan, David Penrose & Jenny Macfie

[Note that: if you are now kicking yourself for missing a 15-star tour de force, Petit Mal is coming back for a longer UK tour next year. You can excuse yourself the burden of remembering this by signing up to the COL newsletter.]