“Ultimately, the two strands explosively converge, unifying the themes and messages into a poignant harmony”
It’s not easy being a female actor; being subjected to vacuous roles that are simply there to support men, being told you have an expiry date, and fearing being exploited to serve the male gaze. And that’s just to name a few of the tribulations. Having to navigate all of that while also pregnant, I can only imagine to be a total nightmare. Lily Lowe-Myers and Robyn Cooper (who, yes, are pregnant) have created an opportunity for themselves with Welcome…?, a play which crucially is not just a good ‘pregnancy play’, but an intellectual and emotional power-punch in its own right.
Welcome…? sees two plot threads run parallel – that of Lowe-Myers attempting to write the play, and that of her attempts to play out the story being written in real time, featuring herself as Larissa, a scientist, and Cooper as Rachel Smith, a purposeless woman trying to create meaning in her life. The former plays out as a satirical critique on the opportunities and representation of pregnant women, as well as conventional story structures and the process of writing itself, while the latter explores the anxieties of finding meaning and purpose, and how those expectations can be imposed on babies. Ultimately, the two strands explosively converge, unifying the themes and messages into a poignant harmony.
The writing is sharp, creative, and delivered expertly by both Lowe-Myers and Cooper. Particular gems were a scene between Rachel Smith and her mother, in which the bar is raised for how much subtext an iron can deliver, and a scene in which the pair act out a plot created by a short story generator. Unfortunately, the crackling energy of these sequences, that is also aided by Matt Costain’s thoughtful direction, is fizzled out by some very long scene changes while the actors rearrange the largely unnecessary-feeling set.
Despite some stunted pacing, however, Welcome…? delivers a perfect blend of humour, pathos, and a keen perception of the world. It’s a galvanising work that makes bold and exciting strides in dramatising pregnancy in subversive ways, that is fully deserving of huge audiences.
“largely makes up for its shortfalls in this area with a brand of irreverent comedy that’s deeply alluring”
It’s more or less unanimously agreed that Breaking Bad is one of the greatest TV series of all time, spanning 62 hours of nigh-on flawless storytelling, writing, and acting. So it’s an unenviable job to adapt that into a 90-minute musical comedy, but it’s one that Rob Gathercole (writer, composer and lyricist) has undertaken. Somewhat surprisingly, the Herculean task pays off overall.
Say My Name! follows the story of its source material; that of Walter White, a chemistry teacher who, upon being diagnosed with cancer, teams up with Jesse Pinkman to cook crystal meth and ultimately raise and lose a drug empire. However, if you haven’t already seen Breaking Bad, most of the plot will make little sense as it’s all skimmed over so quickly. Despite dedicating the entire opening song to exposition, it still comes across as muddy, and the show takes a little while to find its groove. As a result of this, Walter is introduced without any sort of understanding of what’s really motivating him, which does a disservice to the story and allows for very little payoff at the show’s end. Thankfully, Say My Name! largely makes up for its shortfalls in this area with a brand of irreverent comedy that’s deeply alluring.
Deftly sending up the characters and their exploits, the humour is gleefully inane and self-referential. Particular highlights include covering the entire third season in a single song, depicting a train robbery as a silent film, and Walter’s son being a cockney puppet – creative staging choices such as these generated immense laughter and allowed the show to jump out from the shadow of the source material. Most of the actors also managed to amplify the essence of their characters to near pantomimic levels to excellent effect, especially Scott Brooks as drug enforcement agent Hank and henchman Mike, and Rebecca Levy as Jesse and Hank’s wife Marie. However, certain characters such as the neurotic Lydia felt like they were overplayed and subsequently fell flat in their delivery.
The songs are also played by the cast and cover a huge range of styles and timbres, from rap to country to swing, and were all sung and performed marvellously. However, many of the songs felt underdeveloped, often being quite short and repetitious in their lyrics. Additionally, some motifs featured a cumbersome number of reprises that did not feel like they were adding any further layers to their meanings.
Consequently, Say My Name! often feels at odds with the show it’s trying to parody, buckling under the weight of the sheer amount of plot that it’s trying to condense. The opportunities for songs and scenes to explore characters and allow comic situations to play out more fully falls to the wayside in favour of continued exposition, but in the moments where the show leans into its more absurd humour, it manages to transcend being just a Breaking Bad parody into something much more addictive.
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