“An eccentric, audience-fuelled romp”
Tucked into the depths of Soho Theatre, audiences are having their dreams become a reality– in a sense. Entering the downstairs performance space, you’re immersed into a lab of sorts confronted with writer and performer Marina Bye, hooked up to some helmet concoction with flashing led lights, framed by many many lab coats. Another scientist is circulating around the space, interacting with audience members, asking if everyone has signed their NDAs, meanwhile Hillary Duff’s “This is What Dreams are Made of” blasts over the speakers.
From the getgo, Siblings’ latest piece, Dreamweavers, is quirky and intrinsically connected to the audience. As the piece progresses, various audience members are invited (or coerced) to participate in the presentation of a new scientific invention, allowing the helmet wearers to see their dreams projected onstage. Real-life siblings Marina and Maddy Bye share an easy, lively chemistry on stage, though tend to get frequently carried away with their various and sundry bits.
Opening with a spectacular display of flashing lights and WWE-esq voiceover, it immediately becomes clear that initially funny moments get dragged out to unnecessary lengths. Dan Wye’s direction gradually loses its rhythm, leaning so heavily into the joke that even the cast struggles to maintain their composure. The structuring of the piece remains engaging, however, with different audience members being chosen to witness familiar dreams such as being called to stage not knowing your lines and slightly less familiar ones of a game of ping pong turned pigeon attack.
The piece is brought to life and filled out with the swift and sharp lighting design (Lily Woodford-Lewis) and sound design (Charlie Beveridge). The highlight of the piece was the musical numbers, which one might notice were the most polished moments of the whole show. Catching tunes and simple but organized choreography left the audience tapping their feet to the lyrics of “One Big Boob.”
The crux of the show hinges on the willingness of audiences to jump in uninhibited. When they do, Dreamweavers finds its stride. There is something undeniably charming about watching a packed basement in Soho rally behind a volunteer navigating an absurd subconscious landscape. In those moments, the Bye sisters’ knack for improvisation shines, and the show feels genuinely alive.
Yet that same reliance on audience abandon can expose the seams. When participation is tentative, the pacing dips and the gags linger a beat too long, as though waiting to be rescued. Dreamweavers is at its best when it trusts its premise enough to move swiftly, letting the absurdity speak for itself. Even with its overextended bits, the production remains an inventive, high-spirited experiment, buoyed by committed performances and a concept that, at its core, taps into something playfully universal: the strange theatre of our own dreams.
Siblings: Dreamweavers plays at Soho Theatre 28th February. Tickets are available here.