From The Bluebird Mechanicals
“One of the tightest, most considered and deliberate works I’ve ever seen… I think it’s as near to a flawless work since The Danger Ensemble’s The Hamlet Apocalypse, some eight years ago.”
“It’s presented as an interdisciplinary solo theatre work but transgresses simple categorisations; there’s puppetry and performance art, film projections and immersive theatre. Talking animals, characters from Chekhov’s The Seagull and a voyage into oblivion. While the themes are dark and weighty, they’re treated with humor and absurdity… In spite (or perhaps because) of its fantastical elements, there is also the elusive sense that it has carved reality at the joints and dished it up as theatre. It is, in short, a work that needs to be seen. 4 ½ stars”
“It’s a safe bet that The Bluebird Mechanicals is like no play you’ve ever seen before…a moving, dynamic piece of symbolic storytelling, it leaves the audience constantly wondering what the next surprise will be. There’s waterworks, pyrotechnics, puppetry, projection, destruction, creation and more. The set, story and performance all culminate in a truly explosive finale. The audience is left sitting in stunned silence marvelling at the sheer showmanship of Rubin’s deeply personal creation.”
From Of the Causes of Wonderful Things
“The human condition can be spoken of and can be read about. But when you hear it, see it and if it unveils in front of you, haunting you, if it unsettles your being and if you begin to live within a dream narrative that has lost all boundaries – if all of this is achieved on stage then it can only be magic.”
“This is intensely moving theatre, and for all the bleakness, beautiful. Rubin makes the unbearable seem bearable. Horror bows to wonder. I left feeling stricken but radiant.”
“A dark tale, told with intelligence and a seductive ability to create an entire world from limited means. This solo theatrical offering recalls the worlds of David Lynch or the incandescent drifts encountered by Jack Torrance in a Colorado hotel (Kubrick’s The Shining).”
“Of the Causes of Wonderful Things brings all the possibilities of theatre together. This piece is so emotive and so intriguing that the longer it goes on, the longer it could be watched. It is rare and affirming to see theatre so utterly human.”
“One of the strongest shows in Liveworks”
“The staging, set and props added to the sense of the disconcerting through brilliant use of scale. At times the stage shrunk to the size of a claustrophobically small box, lit with pale, down shining light and an earthen floor, barely enough room for Esther’s disembodied head and the 5-inch body of her ghostly niece. At other times the stark stage lights projected a towering wraith upon the back of the stage and up into the rafters, ominously shadowing Rubin, threatening to consume her.”
“Almost always awe-inspiring, Of the Causes of Wonderful Things is a theatre piece with a premise and execution like no other.”
“Installation performance that impacted on a richly textured, deeply poetic level .”
“Talya Rubin’s creation reminds me very much of a David Lynch film. There’s excellent dialogue, a plot submerged in imagery and a bad feeling in the pit of your stomach. Eerie, displacing but incredibly entertaining.”
From Earlier Work
“An experience that is at once absolutely familiar and entirely mysterious.”
“Sublime. A one-woman show brought to aching life”
“Blending myth and personal experience, Talya Rubin brilliantly puts the pieces together to tell a story of love, longing and betrayal. In this superbly written work, the actor moves from scene to scene and character to character with an ease that is absolutely astounding. Truly a must see show. (4.5 stars)”
“Extraordinary, must-see piece of theatre, an uncanny ability to use space and body with elegant precision. The writing is out of this world. It’s evocative, passionate, deft and witty; as sweet as honey and just as intense. One of those exquisite gems that emerges without fanfare from the thousands of performances on in the Fringe. (5 stars).”
“Absolutely inhabiting all of her many characters on stage, Rubin brings subtlety, grace and buckets of skill to this unique one-woman show. Also featuring an exquisite, inventive, minimal set, this is as good, interesting and unforgettable as anything I’ve ever seen at any Fringe Festival. It’s unique and brilliant and not to be missed. (5 Stars).”