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# REVIEW: Avalanche by Bloom Theatre
- URL: https://www.scenemag.co.uk/review-avalanche-by-bloom-theatre/
- Published: 2021-01-24T12:12:31.000Z
- Updated: 2021-01-23T11:01:45.000Z
- Description: Brian Butler immerses himself in a weird and wonderful snowy world
- Author: Brian Butler
- Tags: Arts, Reviews, Theatre

[![](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/bloom600.png)](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/home/)

Bloom Theatre is a relatively new theatre company that seeks out “ weird and wonderful people “ and is dedicated to giving a platform to these voices – especially within the LGBTQ+ community.

Its latest offering – the 40-minute solo performance Avalanche by **Simon Fraser** with **Jack Albert Cook** – ticks both boxes of the weird and the wonderful.

Alex, grippingly played in a highly nuanced performance by **Sonny Poon Tip** – is a young professional skier obsessed with winning , with perfection and total self-control. Alistair Wilkinson’s taut direction has close-ups, panning shots and a wide variety of camera angles in a claustrophobic minimalist setting.

The small bed with its thin pillow and the bare walls give an air of a prison cell , only relieved in its starkness by projections of the snowy mountains which are presumably outside.

Ski-ing it seems is all of Alex’s life – no time for friends or relationships, apart from his loving hero-worship for lifelong skiiing partner Jacob.

So is this an unrequited love story ? No , like a giant slalom, it veers here and there , always keeping its central theme elusive.

[![](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/600-2.png)](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/home/)

At the heart of the story is a truly earth-shattering personal event – some sort of drunken sexual encounter with a male stranger , where Alex’s world of self-control is shattered.

We’re never fully told what happened at the end of a rare night’s drinking for this dedicated sportsman. But it’s enough to turn his fragile , obsessive world upside down as if he were the tumbling victim of an avalanche .

[![](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/9ade2d96-be28-4d600400.png)](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/home/)

And the writers , actor and director never let we the audience assume control either – tempting as we find it to try and explain away what we’re seeing, ultimately we can’t.

In a lockdown time of mental anguish for many, this small play opens the windows to a sense of loss, longing and isolation that is disturbing but beautiful to behold.

Avalanche is available on demand to stream until 7 February –

[**More info or book here bloomtheatre.co.uk**](https://bloomtheatre.co.uk/avalanche-1?ref=scenemag.co.uk)

[![](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/crt-0l-600.png)](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/home/)