LOOKING FOR GIANTS

King’s Head Theatre

★★★

“Beautiful language comes together with dark fantasies to create a relatable and comedic story”

Looking for Giants is a show about obsessions, fantasies and pure thrill. Three different men invade the narrator’s life. The setting changes, but the situation doesn’t. Excitement, potential, inevitable let down, then repeat. Isn’t that what life is about though? The people that swoop in and change your life forever? All the marks they leave on you, while you try to make sense of something that will never make perfect sense? Because human relationships are too complicated for that.

Our protagonist, or narrator, is an undergraduate student. A very vulnerable age where the threshold of adulthood, with all the freedom and terror it brings with it, looms ahead. On a stage that has only the essentials, a chair and a mic stand, Abby McCann comes in and starts sharing her innermost fantasies. Little by little, we notice a pattern unravelling, in a way that makes the storytelling feel almost like a raw confession. Firstly, there is the university tutor, who appears to be indifferent, but still somehow pulls her in and makes her want to go to sort of battle against him. Secondly, an older man on a dating app, which prompts a purely sexual chain of interactions through texts. Thirdly, a university student who, after a long time of teasing, turns into a mere fantasy of what could have been. All of them excite her and tickle her imagination to the point of turning her world upside down. But in the end, she stands in front of us to point out that it’s the emotional whirlwind that matters to her. She’s not bitter nor does she feel rejected. She ponders on what came before and is filled with adrenaline at the thought of what will come next.

The male and female dynamic is important to note, how the female narrator keeps putting herself on a lower, even weaker position compared to her male love interests. One could say it’s intentional, a conscious preference; other could argue it’s too much of a coincidence to be unrelated to how society enforces the image of women as the submissive beings, in a sexual and not sexual way. But there’s no denying that the thrill of the unknown, or rather the barely known, can be relatable outside of any gender discussions.

Skylar Turnbull Hurd’s lighting design playfully highlights parts of the conversations the protagonist has with the male characters of her stories. At times, it get confusing and almost chaotic, though not to the point of distracting us from what’s happening onstage. The mic creates an interesting layer and distinction between the different characters, while the rest of the sound design, by Sarah Spencer, is minimal and to the point.

Abby McCann, who is also the dramaturg of the show, doesn’t let the daunting nature of performing unaccompanied stop her from bringing some wonderful energy and colour to the character. Along with writer and director Cesca Echlin, they could have dug deeper to let the character’s risky and edgy personality shine even more.

It’s an intriguing play that doesn’t leave anything to the audience’s imagination. Beautiful language comes together with dark fantasies to create a relatable and comedic story, even if its explosive and thrilling nature could be accentuated more.

Tag Archives: Skylar Turnbull Hurd

LOOKING FOR GIANTS

★★★

King’s Head Theatre

LOOKING FOR GIANTS

King’s Head Theatre

★★★

“Beautiful language comes together with dark fantasies to create a relatable and comedic story”