★★★★★

“Heiney’s script is brimming with sharp fiery wit and mounds of one-liners that inject a very human sense of levity into the proceedings”

The narratives around mental health in the arts can often feel misguided – shows such as Dear Evan Hansen and 13 Reasons Why harbour downright harmful ideas by romanticising illness and using it to excuse sociopathic behaviour. Where Original Death Rabbit soars triumphantly above this mire is by crafting a story that’s about mental health, but in a hugely multi-faceted and culturally resonant way that is intellectually mature and gleefully silly.

Original Death Rabbit is a one-woman show featuring Kimberly Nixon as the titular Death Rabbit (her real name is never revealed) and written by Rose Heiney. Death Rabbit details how being photographed at a funeral in a rabbit onesie turned her into an internet meme, and how becoming intrinsically entrenched within the validation-seeking spheres of Twitter and sites like Buzzfeed had devastating long-term effects on her psychologically.

If that all sounds a bit heavy, don’t worry – Heiney’s script is brimming with sharp fiery wit and mounds of one-liners that inject a very human sense of levity into the proceedings. The big ideas are smartly concealed amongst eclectic plot threads, such as online forums about Richard Curtis films, and an obnoxious friend named Penny.

The script’s perfect blend of reality and theatricality is aided in no small part by Nixon’s masterclass of a performance that captures the ostensible ‘if you don’t laugh, you’ll cry’ desensitised attitude of the millennial generation to a tee, but also lets the cracks in this mask show at very precise and poignant moments. The relatability is heightened further by Louise Whitemore’s set – Death Rabbit’s exquisitely unkempt flat, littered with dirty clothes, microwaveable burgers, and spots of damp in the walls. Director Hannah Joss has tied together flawlessly every element to paint the reality of how it feels to be a part of the society that struggles to get by but feels obligated to depict immaculate lives on social media.

Eleven days in, saying Original Death Rabbit is the best play of the year doesn’t seem like particularly high praise, but I’m confident that twelve months down the line, this extraordinary piece of theatre will still be a contender. If this is any indication of the storm that the intimate Jermyn Street Theatre is brewing up for its 2019 output, we should all be very, very excited.

Reviewed by Tom Francis

Photography by Robert Workman

Pinocchio

Albany Theatre

Reviewed – 4th December 2018

★★

“some brief glimmers of brilliance … but ultimately it feels, well – wooden”

Pinocchio, as Disney have proved, is ripe with material that modern audiences of children can enjoy and learn from. This new adaptation, written by Mary Swan and directed by Kaveh Rahnama, unfortunately features hackneyed lessons and little that entertains in a disappointingly slow and low-energy affair.

The story follows the original fairly closely as we see Pinocchio (Floria Da Silva) as a puppet come to life, eager to please his creator Gepetto (Umar Butt), but also easily misled by the conniving Cat (Ed Stephen) and Fox (Rosie Rowlands). However, this adaptation sees a few beloved aspects ignored, such as Pinocchio’s nose growing when he lies, which features only once and very briefly. As a result, the lessons and morals about responsibility and honesty woven into the fabric of the original story feel like they’ve unnecessarily been ripped out. In their place, this script tries to explore themes of parenthood and specifically being a single parent, but the differing intent of the source material makes the moments that focus on these concepts feel inorganic and cumbersome.

Unfortunately, the clunkiness also bleeds through into the telling of the story. Rahnama has tried to incorporate acrobatics and circus elements into the performance, but they fail to come across as story – or character-driven, and instead as an attempt to gloss over the cracks in the plot with gimmicks. This happens too with set and props, as ideas are introduced and then discarded almost instantly; the use of a huge sheet as the ocean, for example, could have made for a visually stimulating sequence but instead is just scenery to an otherwise static and uninspired moment.

The most crucial litmus test of a children’s show, however, is of course the children’s reaction, and unfortunately they seemed restless and uninterested. Many of the jokes and ‘showstopping’ acrobatic moments were met with silence, and the uncomfortable pauses where the actors were expecting laughter or applause dampened the energy greatly, and brought the momentum of the show to a crawl. Pinocchio features some brief glimmers of brilliance, especially in moments in the last section of the show involving shadow puppets and bubbles, and certain performances such as Rowlands’ as Fox desperately try to inject life into the show, but ultimately it feels, well – wooden.

Jermyn Street Theatre

Reviewed – 11th January 2019

★★★★★

“Heiney’s script is brimming with sharp fiery wit and mounds of one-liners that inject a very human sense of levity into the proceedings”

Reviewed by Tom Francis

Photography by Robert Workman

Original Death Rabbit

Jermyn Street Theatre until 9th February

Previously reviewed at this venue:

Albany Theatre

Reviewed – 4th December 2018

★★

“some brief glimmers of brilliance … but ultimately it feels, well – wooden”

Reviewed by Tom Francis

Photography by Liam Croucher

Pinocchio

Albany Theatre until 29th December

Other shows reviewed by Tom Francis: