Cow/Deer theatre review: wordless oddity from an animal’s perspective

Before the show, a stage manager tells us we can close our eyes and just soak up the auditory landscape, but watching its creation is part of the fascination. The cast, if we can call them that, stand in semi-darkness behind a bank of hay bales strewn with gravel, cloth and slices of toast, a tank of water in the middle, microphones in front and a booth behind where they go when portraying humans. All sorts of things, from rope to tinsel, a watering can to a hot water bottle, are deployed to create unnaturally sharpened impressions of natural sounds.