Hearing Things

Omnibus Theatre

Reviewed – 10th January 2019

★★★★

“The performers take accomplished material and lift it higher”

Nicholas is a psychiatrist struggling to keep his head above water. The drastically underfunded NHS hospital doesn’t have the resources he needs to be effective in his work, and at home his father is beginning to show signs of dementia. His patients are often hostile and incurable, and – like many burned-out, underpaid healthcare professionals – Nicholas begins to wonder whether the occasional small victories are enough cause to keep fighting what feels like a losing battle.

Writer Philip Osment and theatre company Playing ON have crafted Hearing Things from five years of work with psychiatrists, mental healthcare staff, and patients. The result is a poignant exploration of the UK’s broken mental healthcare system, and the ways it fails those who need it. Osment depicts the touching humanity of his characters on both sides of the doctor/patient fence. His scenes skilfully show how they reach for each other, and the obstacles between them.

The performers take accomplished material and lift it higher. All of them multirole, and none ever leave the stage. The character shifts are sudden, signalled only by a change in posture. Jim Pope successfully portrays Nicholas as a child, a university student, and an adult without any change to his appearance. Daniel Ward gives an outstanding performance as both Innocent, a young schizophrenic patient from Ghana, and Patrick, Nicholas’s father. His transformations are total. Again, without any alteration of wardrobe or appearance – just a hunch in the shoulders, a shift in accent, and a switch flicked behind the eyes – Ward is absolutely convincing as both the young, uncertain man and the intimidating, larger-than-life father.

Jeanette Rourke is a strong performer who plays Janet, a suicidal patient, Grace, Nicholas’s wife, and Hope, Innocent’s mother. However, it was disappointing and a bit uncomfortable to see a Ghanaian woman portrayed by a white actress, with accent and affect. There’s no specified ethnicity for the other two roles (Janet and Grace), so it’s a question why a white actor was cast. Lack of BAME roles, and the whitewashing of those that do exist, is an issue that’s been so passionately fought in the last year, it’s a shame to encounter it already in 2019. It’s a jarring note in the performance.

The fluidity of the play is remarkable. The set morphs as frequently as the characters, and with as little alteration. The stage is a beach – a clever illusion created using carpet and real sand – but it serves as at least five different locations, including the hospital, a house, and Sainsbury’s. That it all works, and works well, is a testament to the exceptional design, lighting, and sound team.

This is a story worth hearing now. In a fraught, overwhelming political climate that makes apathy tempting, Hearing Things reminds us why, even in the most hopeless circumstances, we still try.

Reviewed by Addison Waite

Photography by Ron Bambridge

Hearing Things

Omnibus Theatre until 27th January

Last ten shows reviewed at this venue:

The Soul of Wittgenstein | ★★★ | February 2018

My Dad the Magician | ★★★★ | March 2018

The North! The North! | ★★★ | March 2018

Gauhar Jaan – The Datia Incident | ★★★★ | April 2018

The Yellow Wallpaper | ★★★★ | June 2018

Blood Wedding | ★★★ | September 2018

To Have to Shoot Irishmen | ★★★★ | October 2018

The Selfish Giant | ★★★★ | December 2018

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★★★½

“an outrageous, immersive show that keeps the audience laughing and gasping”

Welcome, honoured guests, to the wedding of Laura and… Wait, where is he? Has anybody seen Johnny?

Writer, director, and star of her debut one-woman tragicomedy, Elina Alminas plays Laura, a Russian bride who has spent nine months planning this wedding to her English groom. Every detail is perfect, which is why it’s so galling that she’s been jilted at the altar. Again. Johnny’s abandonment is the final glass that topples the champagne fountain. The ensuing hour sees Laura, completely unhinged, power through the wedding solo: popping pills, swigging champagne, stuffing her face with cake, and accosting the audience (who are the guests).

If you like audience interaction, you’ll enjoy the way Alminas picks on people, interrogating them as to the whereabouts of the groom and expecting actual responses. If you’re not a fan of being put on the spot, consider yourself warned.

Alminas demands your attention like a train wreck. She’s an emotional hurricane, storming on stage in a wedding dress with mascara streaming down her face. Her stamina is impressive as she hyperventilates, gasp-sobbing her way through the show, seamlessly taking us from wretched lows to manic highs and right back down again as she navigates her character’s total breakdown. She revels in raw emotion; anyone who’s ever sat with a drunk, crying friend in the toilets will recognise the truth in her performance.

But the depth of Alminas’ acting is offset by a script that’s content to stay on the surface. Many people aren’t aware that still today Russian women are being raised to believe success means marriage to a wealthy man or a Western one. They’re coached and then sent out with only this goal in mind, being told effort spent on their bodies and makeup is the way to achieve it. It’s a real, tragically modern issue that it feels like Laura has missed a chance to explore. There’s too much one-note hysterical bride, and not enough about what’s pushed her over the edge.

Laura is a fascinating character: she’s caustic, hilarious, and vulnerable. It’s a mistake to keep her at such a distance. It isn’t until the very end she lets us in on what her life’s been like, but even then Alminas only scratches the surface. Laura’s childhood and previous two failed marriage-attempts are rife with potential for humour and insight into the social issues that create “crazy women”; it’s disappointing they’re left largely untapped, while most of the time is spent on throwaway banter.

This is an outrageous, immersive show that keeps the audience laughing and gasping at Laura’s antics. Alminas’ ability to throw in your face a woman broken by society, while never straying far from comedy, shows considerable skill. But the play’s insistence on staying in the shallows prevents it from being more than just a snapshot of a jilted-bride meltdown.

Reviewed by Addison Waite

Photography by Laurie Coldwell

Omnibus Theatre

Reviewed – 10th January 2019

★★★★

“The performers take accomplished material and lift it higher”

This is a story worth hearing now. In a fraught, overwhelming political climate that makes apathy tempting, Hearing Things reminds us why, even in the most hopeless circumstances, we still try.

Reviewed by Addison Waite

Photography by Ron Bambridge

Hearing Things

Omnibus Theatre until 27th January

Last ten shows reviewed at this venue:

Soho Theatre

Reviewed – 10th December 2018

★★★½

“an outrageous, immersive show that keeps the audience laughing and gasping”

Welcome, honoured guests, to the wedding of Laura and… Wait, where is he? Has anybody seen Johnny?

If you like audience interaction, you’ll enjoy the way Alminas picks on people, interrogating them as to the whereabouts of the groom and expecting actual responses. If you’re not a fan of being put on the spot, consider yourself warned.

Reviewed by Addison Waite

Photography by Laurie Coldwell

Laura

Soho Theatre

Last ten shows reviewed at this venue: