Above – The shows’ four female creatives: Amy Green, Amanda Laing, Danielle Baynes and Pip Dracakis. Pic Daniel Foeldes. Featured – Writer and performer Danielle Baynes. Pic Sasha Cohen.
Blood nut and pearly whites, the teeth and tresses of the Lady in Danielle Baynes’ BICYCLE are physiological ciphers for the narrative that unfolds in this “cycle-ogical” slice of Gothic comedy thriller.
Confiding in her “darling” equine, the lady shows the gift bestowed on her by an exotic and ardent admirer. It is a bicycle, a mechanical marvel, given to her so she might speed to the admirer’s side when beckoned to a midnight tryst.She tells her horse, the soon to be usurped and worse, of how she met her bike benefactor and her enthusiasm for the contraption, its etiquette and attire – now smitten she’s not shy to talk of “bicycle face” and show off her bloomers.
Her passion for the pedal is matched by her attraction to the giver and she abandons the decorum of the day to sup with him in the dead of night. A night of necking with the Count from Transylvania transfuses a deep desire to pursue a literary vein, an unquenchable thirst to put pen to paper. Bitten by the writing bug indeed!
Writer performer Danielle Baynes writing has considerable bite, layering Victorian vernacular with adroit anachronism, subtle punning and targeted gender politics. Obviously not afraid of Virginia Woolf, Baynes has her heroine invoke her after she has been infected with the need to feed her fiction, in a tomb of one’s own.
She has the Count speak in courtly couplets, vampire verse in rhyme for reason, and old Dracula reveals himself a blood sucker in more ways than one.
Writer performer Danielle Baynes presents a portrait of passion in a lusty performance, supple in physical and vocal dexterity, sustainingly charming even at its most chilling.
Underscored by the virtuoso violin and vocals of Pip Dracakis – now there’s a name to conjure in a production such as this – with the pluck and strut of the instrument and the physical presence of dark mystery, BICYCLE seems bespoke for the late show slot at Old Fitzroy.
Should see? On yer bike!
Lies, lies and Propoganda’s production of Danielle Baynes’ BICYLCLE is playing the Old Fitz until 2 July. Performances Tuesdays to Saturdays at 9.30pm and Sundays at 7.30pm.