by David Cheal
Daily Telegraph, 12 June 1993

For their first British shows in six years, the Pet Shop Boys have become West End boys, installing themselves in this theater for a 15-night residency. And as you might expect from two men who have recoiled from the conventions of live performance, this was not so much a pop concert, more a work of installation art. The problem was that for long stretches the visual side of the show detracted from what was surely meant to be the focus of attention: the Pet Shop Boys themselves and their music.

The action took place on a set consisting of a white cube with two doors, and two large video screens, one either side of the cube. Each screen showed a group of people lounging on and around a couch, drinking and disporting themselves languidly; among them were the pioneers of electro-pop themselves; Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, dressed like a couple of medical orderlies. After a while, the duo took leave of their respective gatherings and entered the stage through the doors in the cube. This was the first of several cleverly executed interactions between the stage and the screens - the screens, while having the appearance of being "live", were actually showing prerecorded footage.

All this was so compelling that I found it hard to drag my eyes away from the people on the screens, whose behavior became progressively more relaxed, so that at times the activities of Tennant, Lowe, backing singer Sylvia Mason-James and dancer Les Child became almost a sideshow. The fact that they played a lot of B-sides and left out a lot of hits didn't help.

The video footage for the show was shot by artist Sam Taylor-Wood, who makes a specialty of interactive video installations. In one of her works, two people are having an argument; they are in the same location but shown on separate screens to emphasize the distance between them. However, if there was a point being made in this show it was less easily discerned.

My attention was wrenched away from the screens by some truly cockle-warming songs, the highlights being "Go West", "Se a vida e", "Left to my own devices" and a sparkling version of "Somewhere" the Bernstein/Sondheim song from West Side Story. A strange but absorbing show.

ed by David Cheal
Daily Telegraph, 12 June 1993