Phoebe Bakker
Concerto music, atmospheric lighting, and a rivalry like no other: The Maestro & The Mosquita is a show that elevates childhood nostalgia but always staying one step ahead.
Once a celebrated conductor, the Maestro now lives alone tormented by memories and visions of this pesky mosquita. We relive some of his highest highs, his lowest lows marred all by the involvement of this Mosquita in a cartoon like rivalry. Visions of Tom and Jerry come to mind at points, there is this absolute tyranny within their relationship swapping with who we are rooting for a different points. More so that hate we are fuelled by the uniqueness of their relationship, moments of tenderness true friendship and just a bizarre set of events leave us all bewildered, unable to take our eyes off the the stage.
Louis Lovett is our lovely Maestro and what a firecracker of a performer he is. Enigmatic from the first second with a surplus of stamina to maintain his performance. He greets us all in his own slightly Germanic-sounding language – giving us some key details that we will need for the story, like that it’s the female Mosquitos that bite and do the blood sucking – giving us our Mosquita. The show works like an elaborate series of clown exercises, each one builds from the last. We dip our toes into Bouffon, a more grotesque version of clown at points and I have to wonder how much of this is rehearsed and which bits come about from Lovett seeing how well we are responding. He works expertly in ciphering out laughter from the audience, building it to the highest peak before moving on never allowing us to get bored. There’s such a pleasant notion of always being surprised and it’s a joy to follow him through this story.
A testament to both the performance and the writing that they work in tandem to give us this clear through-line from beginning to end. The language of the world is clearly defined from the beginning with use of his physicality, Lovett takes on both the Maestro and the Mosquita. He creates visions of invisible tables, jars and various props throughout which through his dedication become fact.
The humour is made all the more impressive by the level of craft that is used to back it. An original score by Oscar-winning composer Stephen Warbeck is used to bolster the performance in combination with the truly impressive vocal skills from out Maestro creates this gorgeous cinematic feel. Dreamy lighting, and a dangling chandelier briefly transformers us to another space. An opera house where we are gifted this moments of pure villainy and all because of our little Mosquita. This ability to treat the Mosquita with the most series levels of contempt allows the humour to bloom, we are lost in the ludicrous nature of it.
Always one step ahead our emotions are played like accordions. The Mosquita wins our hearts and it is suddenly the Maestro who takes on the role of villain. Our fun always comes within the game of tripping each other up and the chase that ensues but there are true levels of tenderness and heart the evolve from this. Some moments of audience participation means we are let into this word and suddenly we all find our selves a little bit fuzzy inside rooting for these two to just work it out.
Warm and nostalgic with Expert levels of bonkers. Sculpted scrupulously by people at the top of their game. Enjoyable every second for every theatre goer. You’ll leave beaming for the whole day.
Recommended drink: But a tiny thimble of your finest blood for the little gal.
Performances of The Maestro & The Mosquita have now concluded at Dublin Fringe 2024
Jake Mace
