Tag Archives: Molly Knox

IS THE WI-FI GOOD IN HELL?

★★★★★

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Reviews, , , , , , , , , , ,

IS THE WI-FI GOOD IN HELL? at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe

★★★★★

“a personal and gorgeous reflection on queerness, place, and boyhood that will leave you laughing one second and reaching for tissues the very next”

Is The Wi-fi Good in Hell? is a gorgeously flawless meditation on gentrification, platonic love, and on growing up gay in a deprived coastal area. Following the adolescence and youth of Dev, this one-man storytelling masterclass is as creative and engaging as it is hilarious. The audience fall in love with the story from the moment Dev, played and written by Lyndon Chapman, strolls onto the stage dawning an outfit and hat that wouldn’t look too out of place in a MySpace profile photo, and begins to unravel himself and his hometown of Margate.

Acted superbly by Chapman, the piece begins with the tongue-in-cheek humour of 13-year-old Dev struggling to find connection and fit in as a young gay kid from Margate in the late 00s. The writing captures the era gloriously and paints a vivid picture of Dev’s perspective on himself, attitudes, and surroundings. “If they laugh at your jokes, they like you” he hauntingly echoes throughout the piece. He later notes the modelling work of “local creatives”, who Dev bitingly admits are local but definitely did not go to his school.

Directed by Will Armstrong, Chapman transforms subtly and expertly from 13, to his later teens, to his early twenties, keeping a coherence of character that matures in voice and physicality but never looses Dev’s spark. The piece shines with Millennial / Gen Z cusp relatability and presents a new dawn of coming-of-age nostalgia that represents queer working-class experience in a didactic yet humorous way. It is marvellous to see this experience represented so magically on stage.

The piece’s storytelling has a distinctive voice that carries with it waves of professionalism and style. As Dev details his tumultuous experiences fitting in with his surroundings, himself, and others, we are met with Damian Pace’s stylishly technical sound design which compels the audience to hang on the story’s every breath. Characters who Dev encounters like Luke and Ange are also clear and powerful, despite never appearing on stage, and connections between them and Chapman’s protagonist are touchingly quiet and bittersweet.

Chapman’s script earns its tackling of more serious issues. Audiences poignantly wipe tears from their eyes as Chapman lets his roll tragically down his cheeks. Dev is presented with complexity and depth. In particular, the portion surrounding the different switching between his “5 voices” is massively effective and absorbing. Ideas about how queer men feel they must shape themselves and their outward personas, and how that impacts them internally, are well thought through and performed with honesty and careful humour. Is The Wi-Fi explains plainly how Dev feels he must blend throughout his young life to try and reduce homophobia.

The show also twists the supernatural and folkloric into real-life consequences in a mesmerising and beautiful feat of writing and directing. Visceral and otherworldly descriptions of something following Dev are woven interestingly into the story, and Chapman’s horror and confusion quickly becomes palpable for the audience. Is The Wi-Fi Good in Hell? is a masterfully supernatural and touching re-telling of the life of a young gay man growing up and moving away from a decaying coastline; a place soon to be overrun with gentrification. This is a personal and gorgeous reflection on queerness, place, and boyhood that will leave you laughing one second and reaching for tissues the very next.

 


IS THE WI-FI GOOD IN HELL? at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe – Underbelly, Cowgate – Iron Belly

Reviewed on 25th August 2024

by Molly Knox

Photography by Charles Flint

 

 


IS THE WI-FI GOOD IN HELL?

IS THE WI-FI GOOD IN HELL?

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MY MOTHER’S FUNERAL: THE SHOW

★★★★★

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Reviews, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

MY MOTHER’S FUNERAL: THE SHOW at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe

★★★★★

“The prowess of Jones’ writing and Charlotte Bennett’s direction is unique and utterly refreshing”

My Mother’s Funeral: The Show is a crucial and stunning piece on trauma mining in the arts. Based on the experience of losing a loved one and discovering the expense of death unjust, Kelly Jones writes a masterpiece that challenges the notion that dying is the great leveller. A breath-taking meta-theatrical triumph: this performance follows 24-year-old Abigail as she desperately pitches and writes a play about her mother’s (very) recent death. When a stranger turns to you at the end of the show in tears letting you know they intend to immediately ring their mum, you know the performance has done its job.

Playwright Kelly Jones presents a stunningly honest voice on the issues of how the arts industry treats trauma and social commentary. Jones delivers a powerful and poetic script that skips between tearjerkingly direct experiences of navigating the death of a close family member and trying to respect a dead relative’s wishes. The complexity of her writing is brilliantly clever and pulls the audience in from the moment Nicole Sawyerr (playing Abigail) takes to the stage. Sawyerr gives her all to the performance, holding the audience tightly in the palm of her hand.

As a microphone takes centre stage, as does our grief-struck protagonist. Moments where Abigail takes the mic on her feelings work beautifully into the meta-theatrical premise of the show and the sound production flies in support of it. Touching on themes of gentrification, demonisation of the working class, and estranged family relationships, My Mother’s Funeral touches nerves with the utmost composure and tact. The throughline of commentary on the divide between working class communities and the arts industry is sharp and so very needed. As the show holds a mirror to its paying audience, gasps and tears and laughter are elicited from the audience.

The staging (Rhys Jarman) is dynamic and drives the creativity of the show. Similarly, the gorgeous lighting (Joshua Gadsby) and sound design (Asaf Zohar) are as electric as the knife-edged acting. Samuel Armfield (playing Abigail’s brother and a particularly distasteful theatre producer) and Debra Baker (playing Abigail’s mum, healthcare professionals and an ignorant actor) multi-role phenomenally. The two flawlessly switch between different accents and well-crafted physicality. The direction is tasteful, thoughtful and comedic from beginning to end. This show catches you howling with laughter one second and wiping tears away the next in well-earned moments of emotional tension. Armfield and Baker’s supporting roles combine to pressure the devastation and rage of Sawyerr’s acting as her voice echoes both forcefully and delicately into the space. In particular, the climax of the show is directed with terrific effect, highlighting the pathetic hypocrisy of marketing trauma in theatre at the expense of real people.

My Mother’s Funeral breaks down what it means to write from your own experience to receive financial gratification from others. The prowess of Jones’ writing and Charlotte Bennett’s direction is unique and utterly refreshing amongst an arts landscape that is so readily available to sacrifice its creatives for the sake of entertainment and shock value. The perspective this show provides and its innovative delivery and conception is deeply essential.


MY MOTHER’S FUNERAL: THE SHOW at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe – Roundabout @ Summerhall

Reviewed on 23rd August 2024

by Molly Knox

Photography by Nicola Young

 

 


MY MOTHER’S

MY MOTHER’S

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