Shona Reppe is one of the most prolific theatre-makers in Scotland. And what’s more, the quality of her work is always of a high standard. More often than not exceptional.

Whether that be White which earned her a CATS Award for Best Design in 2011, The Curious Scrapbook of Josephine Bean which won a TMA Award for Best Show for Children and Young People a year later or the utterly bonkers but equally fantabulous Baba Yaga which after premiering at last year’s Imaginate Festival was shortlisted for Australia’s equivalent of an Olivier Award.

Atlantis Banal, co-created by Shona Reppe and director Charlot Lemoine of Vélo Théâtre in France, is another enchanting addition to her impressive body of work. Though perhaps “happening” is a more fitting description.

For the hour-long launch of the eponymous artist’s latest exhibition at the catwalk-like POP-UP Art Gallery comprises a series of thought-provoking and titter-inducing installations which through a combination of found objects and fashion, video and soundscapes, invites the audience to consider a number of questions on life and art.

Such as, if you capture something do you kill it? Are we full of other people? And does it make sense?

Switching back and forth between a safety-conscious usher, a blunt-speaking curator and the enigmatic Atlantis Banal – and assisted by her husband Tamlin Wiltshire on sound who is comically referred to throughout as a Blind Date-like “our Graham” – Shona Reppe literally hooks us from the off with an inflatable fish which with a swish of its robotic tail and rub of its button nose silences the room to a jaw-dropping hush.

A succession of delightful designs follow. A particular favourite being a garish jacket that transforms into an audible map which when stepped upon produces an array of sounds particular to the environment of the Ordnance Survey grid reference: a playground of chatter and chases; a field of mooing and mowing; and much to the surprise of the far from banal Banal, an undergrowth of growls and roars.

The title of the exhibition also forms the thrust of Shona Reppe’s exploration into what lies “beneath the surface” of human interaction in a digital age. Everyone has a voice and opinion, but how many of us are listening? Selfies litter the pavements of social media like chewing gum, but how often do we raise our eyes from the screen to connect to the here and now?

Questions to ponder while exiting through the gift shop.

Peter Callaghan
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