MY LIFE AS A COWBOY at the Omnibus Theatre
★★★
“a fun show with witty and laughable moments”
My Life as a Cowboy – by Hugo Timbrell, Directed by Scott Le Crass – follows Conor (Harry Evans): a Seventeen year old lifeguard who dreams of being a Country back up dancer. It’s unclear where those dreams come from, but it’s established that Country music is cool now so of course that’s what he must do – else continue being a ‘loser’. Upon discovering his dream, Conor decides he must perform at the Talent Show of Croydon People’s Day. He seeks the help of best friend Zainab (Nusrath Tapadar) and fellow lifeguard Michael (Callum Broome) to assist him.
I had mixed feelings about the show throughout – on one hand the performances are lovely and it has some funny moments that kept me moderately entertained. On the other hand I felt an overwhelming sense that it lacked depth. The audience is told Conor feels like a ‘loser’, like his life doesn’t contain any purpose greater than himself. A feeling I’m sure we’ve all had at seventeen, but the text doesn’t explore that further. There are details that could suggest deeper reasons as to why Conor would feel isolated and disenfranchised – a young gay teenager with a father who seemingly abandoned him, perhaps? Unfortunately these details are not explored in any way. In fact, he appears a very confident and self assured young man, just with a bit of stage fright. And to be fair, if you were a seventeen year old suddenly deciding you wanted to be a dancer without any prior training or experience, I’m sure you’d have stage fright too. Conor’s confidence and self belief make the idea of him being a ‘loser’ pretty unbelievable.
As a result, I didn’t care for the character. Evans succeeds in playing him well and their comic timing and charming portrayal shines throughout. The standout character for me, however, was actually the ‘anti-hero’ Michael. At first he is unfriendly towards Connor, and doesn’t want to get to know him at work due to his own complexes about being ‘weird’. But while opening up to Connor, we discover Michael’s love for music. But Michael is scared of performing, we actually see his fear of rejection and how it overrides his love of guitar. So when Michael seemingly spoils Conor’s chance at achieving his dream for his own benefit – I’m rooting for Michael not Conor. Broome is fabulous in the role: his performance is witty and he really does steal the stage in every scene he’s in.
The design’s simple yet effective: curtains divide the stage and create different settings. A bedroom contains a single bed and leopard print covers alongside a white wardrobe covered in country music star posters. The bed is used to transition into the swimming pool area using a metal stage. The play transitions between settings between almost every scene, with actors moving the set. This was mostly forgivable but some of the transitions were slow and there was nothing to watch on stage while they happened – apart from Conor changing costume, which felt a little invasive. Costume was also simple but effective; joggers, T-shirts and lifeguard uniforms. Conor also gets to don cowboy attire with a large pink Stetson for a joyous finale of Cowboy dancing, which was the best part of the play.
The sound (Nick Gilbert) was full of country music hits which added to the fun of the show. Lighting (Jodie Underwood) consisted of calming general washes with a lot of warm and pink tones.
Overall it’s a fun show with witty and laughable moments, but sadly feels superficial in its presentation of a ‘teenager finds themself’ story.’
MY LIFE AS A COWBOY at the Omnibus Theatre
Reviewed on 28th August 2024
by David Robinson
Photography by Henri T
Previously reviewed at this venue:
HASBIAN | ★★★★ | June 2024
COMPOSITOR E | ★★★ | September 2023
MY LIFE AS A COWBOY
MY LIFE AS A COWBOY
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