We Are Ian

Ian was a raver, until Thatcher killed the fun. In Bed With My Brother—a trio of theatre makers consisting of Nora, Dora and Kat—have made a show about Ian’s life as a raver, taking us back to 1989. Excerpts of interviews with Ian are played into the auditorium, and we all have a polite rave.

Nora, Dora and Kat do a lot of energetic dancing to loud rave music. Dressed in white dungarees they mime and clown, turning rave into contemporary dance. They pull expressive, mischievous faces and manage to eke humour out of moves like the hot potato. Lurid colours and snatches of Ian’s own words are projected onto a backdrop, along with instructions for the audience to stand, dance or eat a Digestive biscuit as a metaphor for getting high. 

There’s a vague attempt to bring contemporary politics into the show, with projections of Thatcher, May and others. Doesn’t go any further than that though. The rest is dancing, and eating biscuits. The material feels thin and very drawn out at points. There’s also a slightly uneasy sense that we might be mocking Ian, not the most coherent interviewee, as the performers react with overly comic exaggeration to his pronouncements on how the youth of today "have fuck all". 

Still, with a few friends and a few drinks, it’s a loud love letter to the age of the illegal rave.