If We Got Some More Cocaine I Could Show You How I Love You
The Vaults
Reviewed – 25th February 2018
★★★★★
“I’ve rarely come across seventy minutes of theatre which is as simultaneously heart-warming and heart-wrenching”
John O’Donovan’s award winning ‘If We Got Some More Cocaine I Could Show You How I Love You’ is a masterpiece. On a rooftop in rural West Ireland, the lovable rogue Mikey (Andy Mahon) and the charismatic romantic Casey (Josh Williams) hide from the police. Their crimes are late night robberies on a nearby petrol station and then on Casey’s home, but O’Donovan’s extraordinary script forces you to instantly forgive them.
As the play progresses, it becomes apparent that it is not just the police that have surrounded and trapped the young men. Crazy ex-boyfriends, abusive step fathers and the drain of the recession have prevented them from being able to fully commit to each other for a long time. With no option but to stay where they are, Mahon and Williams treat the audience to a tennis match of witty, reminiscent dialogue as Casey and Mikey take us through their childhood wins and losses. Whether hearing about Mikey’s growing, but perhaps unwarranted reputation as a thug or Casey being plucked from his old life and whisked off to Ireland with his spiteful, violent step father, your heart cannot help but break for the struggles these two have faced.
Proudly working their way through their stolen goods (highlights include whisky, cocaine and two different sorts of M&Ms), the couple indulge in each other’s company in what seems to be a rare moment of truthful isolation between them. Indeed, even when the police cars leave the scene the boys stay put. This begs the question: is the rooftop a prison cell or a sanctuary? With one desperately clinging to the inside of the closet and the other beaming at the mere thought of showing off his new partner, the boys are proof that opposites attract. One thing they have in common, however, is their need to feel wanted. As they physically cling to the chimney, they emotionally cling to each other; and it is this that forces you to will them lifelong happiness.
Mahon and Williams deliver O’Donovan’s triumph with dignity, dexterity and determination. Georgia de Grey’s set wouldn’t be out of place in a West End theatre and Thomas Martin’s direction is ingeniously detailed. I’ve rarely come across seventy minutes of theatre which is as simultaneously heart-warming and heart-wrenching and I urge you to see it. Whether the two are trapped on the roof or hiding in their safe place, it’s clear that there is much more than just honour between these two thieves – there is love.
Reviewed by Sydney Austin
Photography by Keith Dixon
If We Got Some More Cocaine I Could Show You How I Love You
“Groom is a sensational storyteller, able to create vivid images of the world in which Dietrich inhabited, with nothing more than a microphone, a packet of cigarettes and a small table and chair”
In the depths of the deep, dark tunnels underneath Waterloo Station lies a microcosm of art, innovation and creative vitality. The Vaults has opened its doors for its annual arts festival, which boasts as being London’s largest. The sheer multitude of theatre shows, performance art, film and comedy going on within the next eight weeks makes it the capital’s own little slice of the Edinburgh Fringe. Dietrich: Natural Duty is a play mixed with a cabaret show that is not to be missed. Through song, vivid storytelling and drag, the life of the Hollywood legend, Marlene Dietrich is brought to life in this mesmerising and intimate one (wo)man show.
Right from the onset when theatre maker Peter Groom comes sashaying down the aisle poised and statuesque in full Dietrich-garb, he has the whole audience captivated. Big-eyed and pouty in a single spotlight, he croons his way through honky-tonk tunes of yesteryear. The voice of a British journalist suddenly pierces the atmosphere, startling Dietrich out of her performance. He asks a question about Marlene’s past that takes her reeling back to how everything began. We are taken on a journey through Dietrich’s early life in her hometown of Berlin, to being discovered by Hollywood, to the turbulent moment during World War II where she had to choose between Germany and the country she had now come to call home. Deciding to denounce her German citizenship and go on the road with the American troops, Dietrich makes it her duty to fight against her homeland and free her people from the grips of Hitler’s dictatorship. Trying to survive the deadly front by day whilst glamorously entertaining the Yankee boys by night, we watch the toll it takes on her during and after the conflict had ended, having to transition back into the role of the ultimate movie star of the Golden Age of Hollywood.
Peter Groom is a sensational storyteller, able to create vivid images of the world in which Dietrich inhabited, with nothing more than a microphone, a packet of cigarettes and a small table and chair. Songs are cleverly selected and placed within the show at relevant moments that helps to move the story along, performing not as a interlude but as integral, pivotal emotional shifts within Dietrich’s life. Groom gives a particularly moving rendition of the political song Where Have All The Flowers Gone? symbolising the actress’ anger with the war and the amount of pain it had caused. Dietrich: Natural Duty is a timely production, highlighting how we are living in tumultuous political times, where history could be repeating itself. However, as thought provoking as the themes this production draws up are, it is all done with a touch a class, comic coolness, and candour – all with the help of a bejewelled gown, smouldering looks, hip bumps and a fabulous wig of course.
