Review – Alexis Dubus: Cars and Girls
The name of this show is a little misleading. Well, Dubus does focus on the loves of his life, and the vehicles that drove him there, but put aside notions of a man who cares for nothing but engines and breasts. Here we meet a romantic poet, a man with an enormous potential for love, a capacity for wonder, and also wandering.
Dubus tells his life story, a love story, through the medium of rhyming couplets. An hour of such formatting is impressive unto itself. Poetry fans will enjoy the pleasing levels of assonance, alliteration, metaphor and juxtaposition. Those indifferent or displeased with poetry fear not; the tale chugs along merrily and you can easily follow the plot and ignore the medium through which it is delivered. It is not an invasive tool.
Dubus tells us of the accidents of his childhood which left marks, both physical and emotional that shaped the person before us. He tells us of the unlikely adventure with his love, Kirsty, in the compartment of a network of trucks, and the characters they meet all the way from the UK to Morocco. We learn of the elegant stereotypes he meets through his travels, and the trials and tribulations of a life-changing adventure to the Burning Man Festival in the States. Dubus’ tale is illustrated through the use of a giant passport that sits behind him, and fills with images of his adventures as his tale progresses.
Dubus is an eloquent story-teller, able to evoke in our mind’s eye a vivid model of the characters in the play of his life. He is a master of accent and manner. While the tale of love, loss and adventure is by no means untrammelled ground each man has his own story to tell, and Dubus’ narrative is a joyous and entertaining journey.
A pleasurable and poetic evening, worthy of your time. Alexis Dubus is performing every night except Wednesdays until the 20th of April.
