Tristan Bates Theatre Archives - Page 6 of 17

To Drone in the Rain

Tristan Bates Theatre

Reviewed – 11th June 2019

★★

“a valiant attempt to speak to modern anxieties but it falls far short”

To actually drone in the rain is to stand outside as it rains and to go on and on about the same thing. To perform To Drone in The Rain is to stand inside as it rains and to go on and on about the same thing. The play, written by Michael Ellis and directed by Lorenzo Peter Mason, is like a flat Black Mirror episode for the stage: a young man (Tom – Michael Benbaruk) with extreme social anxiety is being cared for by Drone Girl (Nell Hardy) and it only gets darker from there …

Well, not exactly. The production stands on some interesting themes which would certainly be likely to resonate with a typical London audience. Drone Girl isn’t just supporting Tom, she is infantilising him. Drone Girl agonises at length about the morality of this decision as Tom descends into total helplessness shouting ‘change my diaper’ by the end. Through their characters, the writer and director worry aloud about society’s over-reliance on technology and particularly on Artificial Intelligence. But that dependence is so outright and divorced from contemporary dependence on mobile phones, that it always feels far away rather than close in. Drone Girl is tempted by Drone Boy (Lino Facioli) to run away from this life of enabling human helplessness and transcend her human shackle. Drone Girl’s struggle to decide whether or not to leave seems to be the main story arc yet mostly expresses itself in drawn-out on-stage agonising and arguing rather than journey, change or development.

Where the script and direction leave a lot to be desired, the acting also fails to light up the circuit boards. The actors had precious little to work with in terms of tension – the stakes were invariably very low – but the performances were mostly flat and without connectivity or personality. Thigh slapping, door slamming and pained looks replaced most of the human connection. If this was deliberate, to symbolise the robots of the show, then the collateral damage was an audience’s desire to actually care about the characters.

Nicole Figini’s set really took centre stage. Looking like an Ikea showroom it set the piece in a world inhabited only by professional Hikikomoris. The white walls and plain furniture were reminiscent of the specific Black Mirror episode Five Million Merits and served the storyline well. The solid audio-visual work and good lighting design break up and structure the moody rants on stage.

Taken together, the show is a valiant attempt to speak to modern anxieties but it falls far short. The politics are blurted out by characters – climate change, social alienation, ‘the bees are dying’ – and the themes aren’t explored or developed. Instead, the characters perform a moody teenage hurley burley that doesn’t do justice to the high-quality production values and intimate venue.

Reviewed by William Nash

To Drone in the Rain

Tristan Bates Theatre until 15th June

Previously reviewed at this venue:

Butterfly Lovers | ★★ | September 2018

The Problem With Fletcher Mott | ★★★★ | September 2018

Sundowning | ★★★★ | October 2018

Drowned or Saved? | ★★★★ | November 2018

Me & My Left Ball | ★★★★ | January 2019

Classified | ★★★½ | March 2019

Oranges & Ink | ★★ | March 2019

Sad About The Cows | ★★ | May 2019

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

★★

“feels in a very early stage of its development and needs a lot more work”

We entered the performance space to see what seemed like bedroom furniture littered with clothes and pictures covering parts of the walls. The play then begins, and we are told by Rachel (Michelle Payne) about what feels like a stereotypical teenage view of the world, talking about local clubs, music she likes and famous people she fancied. We sit and listen to this and the show progresses, taking us deeper into her head and how she feels about the unrealistic expectations that are made of young women.

The biggest issue with Sad About the Cows was the writing (Michelle Payne), it felt stale and predictable but not relatable. Everything she said could’ve sat comfortably in any 90’s film about growing up and unfortunately a lot of the jokes simply fell flat; there really was an issue with the almost robotic nature to the script. The social agenda the performance was concerning itself with does really need to be spoken about, but in this case all it seemed to do was tell us on a very basic level about the issues of eating disorders without ever delving below the surface. When tackling such an inflammatory subject matter it is the creatives’ duty to explore the topic and help us through these issues with interesting and/or realistic content.

For one section the script moved abruptly into spoken word, giving us a different way to listen, I hoped for a second that this would be my relief and that I would find this more impactful, but I did not. The spoken word was delivered in a very similar way to the regular speech, a mistake that many fall into, spoken word can be beautiful but very hard to get right and on this occasion it did not pay off.

The set was also a large issue as it didn’t add anything to the show, it only worked against it. The sofa and the bed and the table all cluttered the space up and made it feel unrealistic, we know we are not in a bedroom, so I don’t see why you need all of those props; since many of them were never touched or referenced. For this production less really would have been more.

Overall, Sad About the Cows feels in a very early stage of its development and needs a lot more work. The subject matter has potential and I truly believe it’s about looking back over all the show’s elements and thinking what can be lost, so they can focus on less things and make them better, remembering quality not quantity.

Reviewed by Laurie Wilson

Photography by Stephanie Claire Photography

Tristan Bates Theatre

Reviewed – 11th June 2019

★★

“a valiant attempt to speak to modern anxieties but it falls far short”

Reviewed by William Nash

To Drone in the Rain

Tristan Bates Theatre until 15th June

Previously reviewed at this venue:

Tristan Bates Theatre

Reviewed – 21st May 2019

★★

“feels in a very early stage of its development and needs a lot more work”

Reviewed by Laurie Wilson

Photography by Stephanie Claire Photography

Sad About the Cows

Tristan Bates Theatre until 25th May

Previously reviewed at this venue: