Phoebe Cole Archives - Page 10 of 21

You’re Dead Mate

Katzpace

Reviewed – 3rd June 2019

★★★★

“Teddy Morris creates a refreshingly young, relatable, and quintessentially British take on the mortality tale”

“Death is the wish of some, the relief of many, and the end of all”, so Roman philosopher Seneca mused. The inevitability of death is something that unites us all and happens to take centre stage in the wonderfully witty new short play, You’re Dead Mate, which offers plenty of sincerity along with the laughs.

A young man groggily wakes up from his drunken stupor, to find himself in an unknown room with an overly friendly stranger. Is this kidnap? A prank? A dream? The stranger may be able to answer some of these fears as he soon introduces himself as Death. Through reassuring advice and slap-in-the-face cold, hard truths, Death brings some clarity to the chaos of accepting your fate.

Stories from beyond the grave, about being stuck in a limbo, waiting to move on to a final destination are nothing new. However this playwriting debut from Teddy Morris creates a refreshingly young, relatable, and quintessentially British take on the mortality tale. Death is like a cheeky chappy down the pub, there to help you home when you’ve had one too many bevs, which is a really satisfying interpretation. At points the laddish bickering and scrappy behaviour between the two feels a little monotonous, going around and around in circles, but it doesn’t take long before Morris finds his footing again and hits the emotional crux of the story, providing depth and authentic reflection upon making the most of life. He certainly proves himself as an adept writer to look out for in the future.

Both Morris and Harry Duff Walker give brilliant turns as Death and his newest customer. Walker goes on a real journey of disbelief, anger, fear, heartbreak, and acceptance, gliding through these extreme gear changes with ease. It’s a pleasant surprise to see Death go on his own type of journey as his faith in his occupation wavers. Morris being the playwright, clearly feels at one with the material, giving a performance that makes it seem so plausible that Death could act like your best mate.

The encounter between Death and the young man all takes place within a wonderfully dingy basement that echoes more student accommodation than office: second-hand furniture, bottles of booze lined up, wallpaper peeling etc. this certainly makes for no grand exit from Planet Earth. Light and sound Designer Louis Caro does a nice job with the flickering light to signal when it is your time to pass on, even if the story does then fall back on the ‘walking into the white light’ cliche by the end.

A quirky and unexpected delight, there’s a plethora of funny moments to laugh at as well as those more tender points too. You’re left with a compelling feeling to leave the theatre and make the most of your life, as you never know when you might be sitting with Death opposite, offering you a Fosters (as pleasant as that actually sounds). This dead good production is certainly worth a trip six foot under for.

Reviewed by Phoebe Cole

You’re Dead Mate

Katzpace until 5th June

Previously reviewed at this venue:

What the… Feminist?! | ★★★★ | April 2018

Let’s Get Lost | ★★★ | July 2018

Much Ado About Nothing | ★★★★ | October 2018

Motherhood or Madness | ★★★ | November 2018

Specky Ginger C*nt | ★★½ | November 2018

Dead Reckoning | ★★½ | May 2019

Everything Today Is The Same | ★★★ | May 2019

Fight. Flight. Freeze. Fuck. | ★★★ | May 2019

Click here to see more of our latest reviews on thespyinthestalls.com

★★★

“for a work in progress performance, it fairs rather well”

There’s a new queer and feminist theatre festival in town. Erase Erase Erupt, is a platform for artists to test out new work focusing on queerness, sexual assault, gender identity and more. The brainchild of Pink Freud Theatre Company, it is a free-spirited affair that’s inclusive to all. As well as being producers, Pink Freud also have their own work in progress show as part of the line up, ‘Fight Flight Freeze Fuck’.

Nine coloured envelopes hang on a washing line, each containing the personal account of an incident of sexual assault, rape, besmirched consent that has happened in the past to the actors Riz Davis and Amelia Brown. One by one each story is randomly chosen to be read with no details left out. As much as the piece highlights troubling behaviour and horrific codes of conduct, it also focuses on kindness, support, and the strength that comes from listening to one another.

Relaxed and inviting, this is a safe space for explicit and uncomfortable details to be voiced. Trigger warnings are mentioned before each story is read, and an open house policy for anyone who wants to leave if they feel the tale will bring up any past memories is also in place. Steps are constantly taken to assure nobody is affected or offended. This is less like traditional performance and instead, is an amalgamation of different art styles. Audience participation is done in a gentle form (handing bags filled with props to the actors) which never feels uncomfortable or evasive for those audience members who are terrified of being involved.

Inviting a male actor to read the stories, which have consciously been written from the perspective of the perpetrator, is a refreshing and far more impactful choice. With the two women not voicing their own stories directly, it actually magnifies the disgusting nature of the assaults. Particularly the blasé attitudes of the men who believe themselves innocent in all of the incidents. It also allows some distance for the actors from their incredibly personal material.

Davis and Brown find some original ways of interpreting the stories through performance art-like actions, which, done successfully, captures these two women’s inner feelings within each story. Sometimes this doesn’t always happen and the abstract moves lose their significance.

Some of the stories edge on being too similar, which makes you question whether it was really adding anything to the piece. Yes, these are all truthful, personal accounts experienced by the actors, but at the end of the day, this is a performance and not therapy. Perhaps a wider net of stories from a wider range of women would be the next step for progressing this show.

All in all, for a work in progress performance, it fairs rather well. Pink Freud certainly have some imaginative and engaging ways of making difficult and hard to swallow subject matters actually entertaining. It will be compelling to see what journey the show goes on from here on in.

Reviewed by Phoebe Cole

Katzpace

Reviewed – 3rd June 2019

★★★★

“Teddy Morris creates a refreshingly young, relatable, and quintessentially British take on the mortality tale”

Reviewed by Phoebe Cole

You’re Dead Mate

Katzpace until 5th June

Previously reviewed at this venue:

Katzpace Studio Theatre

Reviewed – 12 May 2019

★★★

“for a work in progress performance, it fairs rather well”

Davis and Brown find some original ways of interpreting the stories through performance art-like actions, which, done successfully, captures these two women’s inner feelings within each story. Sometimes this doesn’t always happen and the abstract moves lose their significance.

All in all, for a work in progress performance, it fairs rather well. Pink Freud certainly have some imaginative and engaging ways of making difficult and hard to swallow subject matters actually entertaining. It will be compelling to see what journey the show goes on from here on in.

Reviewed by Phoebe Cole

Fight Flight Freeze Fuck

Katzpace Studio Theatre

Previously reviewed at this venue: