• Advertise
  • Request Review
  • Write for Us
  • Privacy
  • Login

Theatre Bubble

The UK Theatre Network

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Reviews
  • News
  • Features
  • Spotlight
  • Opinions
  • Interviews
  • Guides

This is Living at Trafalgar Studios

May 22, 2016 by Olivia Coxhead Leave a Comment

Review of: This is Living at the Trafalgar Studios
Produced by:
PW Productions
Price:
£15-30

Reviewed by: Olivia Coxhead
Rating:
4
On May 22, 2016
Last modified:May 22, 2016

Summary:

This is Living focuses on the space between life and death, following Alice and Michael through the immediate aftermath of Alice's unexpected death. It's an extremely nuanced understanding of recent bereavement, with an ambitious set design and brilliant cast performances.

More Details

Having graduated from a successful Edinburgh Fringe run in 2014, the new cast and upgraded set of Liam Borrett’s This is Living have settled into a West End home at Trafalgar Studios 2 until mid June. A long labour of love for Liam and his team, evolved from a seven minute piece of theatre in 2012, everything about this play has been re-examined, tweaked and polished, and as a result, care and attention to detail radiate from every second it plays on stage.

This two hander focuses on the space between life and death, cutting between two timelines that follow Alice and Michael through the immediate aftermath of Alice’s unexpected death, with flashbacks to moments from their earlier relationship. Far from providing a black and white contrast between a tragic present storyline and rosier past, this is a more human exploration of the beautiful moments in this couple’s last conversation, as well as the up and downs of their relationship previously. As they plan what will happen after Alice’s accident, and explore their new emotional challenges, they continually refer to their (off stage) child, who is arguably the central pin around which the whole play revolves. It’s decisions about her future that preoccupy them more than their relationship, and we follow Alice’s painful journey as she fights the knowledge that she will miss her child’s future.

Design by Blue Pie Media

Tamla Kari (The Inbetweeners and the Donmar’s Versailles) and Michael Socha (This is England and Aliens) are extremely well matched on stage. They rise to the dual challenge of witty, fast paced dialogue and long, emotionally fraught pauses, pulling the audience along on their reeling roller coaster ride. So confident is Borett’s direction that Socha’s most powerful monologue is delivered to the back wall, facing away from audience, and still manages to be one of the most emotionally charged climaxes of the show. Socha manages to convey a whole spectrum of emotion through single pauses alone, and Kari’s physicality in depicting extreme physical and emotional pain has equal success.

Sarah Beaton’s set is dominated by a raised platform of inch deep water, a confident choice that keeps Michael and Alice’s conversation at the scene of her death in a local river. This shallow pool of water is ever present throughout each flashback as well, serving as a constant and effective reminder that we see these happier times through the lens of Alice’s upcoming death. However, there are some practical challenges that result from this design: because the actors have to use this puddle as their surface for flashback scenes,they sit down in an inch of water, or stand dripping wet, when it makes no narrative sense. There’s also the frequent interruption of poolside squeaking as rubber shoes meet watery plastic. The set is undeniably focused on the present, bereaved strand of the narrative, and this does rob other scenes of their potency, however well Michael and Tamla never let the cold water affect their performance. The design is a bold choice, but it’s also a permanent one and this type of narrative structure could probably benefit from a more flexible space.

Borrett’s writing is most powerful when it shows that death combines both the overwhelming and the banal. This is Living‘s most touching moment comes as Alice and Michael, both emotionally exhausted, reach a moment of quiet reflection on his day. The description of his trip to Tescos, and all the tiny details of ‘trolley or basket’ banality is everything that Alice wants to hear about a familiar activity that they will never share again. The occasional pauses in this scene are filled with the sounds of audience members crying. Borett’s script shines a spotlight on the uncomfortable truth that everyone has to face at some point in their lives; that the living carry on, and in bereavement it is invariably the tiny moments of making a cup of tea or getting dressed that are the only things that prove that you might get through it. And yet, the bereaved live a double life, with half of their thoughts still with the person they have lost. This is Living is a fantastically nuanced understanding of this dichotomy.

 

This is Living will be continuing its run at Trafalgar Studios 2 until Saturday 11 June. You can buy tickets from their website.

CAST

Alice – Tamla Kari

Michael – Michael Socha

CREATIVE

Director – Liam Borrett

Designer – Sarah Beaton

Lighting Designer – Jackie Shemesh

Sound Designer – Daffyd Gough and Sean Gallacher

Produced by PW Productions Ltd

Author: Olivia CoxheadOlivia has worked as a production manager in open air touring theatre, and currently loves being an audience member who doesn't have to bring an umbrella and a plastic poncho to every show

Filed Under: Review Tagged With: ATG, Liam Borrett, London, Michael Socha, PW Productions, Sarah Beaton, Tamla Kari, This is Living, Trafalgar Studios

Join the discussion Cancel reply

NEWS / ZU-UK presents Radio Ghost

ZU-UK presents Radio Ghost, a walking game for three participants journeying through a haunted shopping mall. Premiering at LIFT Festival [Read More]

INTERVIEW / Sophie Leydon on Rapture at Pleasance London

Sophie Leydon (She/Her) is a Writer and Director whose practice centres staging LGBTQIA+ experience through interdisciplinary forms. She tells us [Read More]

INTERVIEW / Claire Cunningham talks 4 Legs Good in BE festival

Garden State (8 – 11 June) is an art installation made up of hundreds of houseplants lent by local residents [Read More]

INTERVIEW / Paul Bourne talks about Bliss at the Finborough Theatre

Written by Fraser Grace (Breakfast with Mugabe, RSC), Bliss is based on a short story by censored writer Andrey Platonov. It’s at Finborough [Read More]

NEWS / Japanese Romeo and Juliet to the songs of Queen announced

Coming to Sadler’s Wells in September as part of its world tour, A Night At The Kabuki is a retelling [Read More]

Top Posts & Pages

  • 5 Stage Elements to Consider for a Rousing Theatrical Production
  • 10 Tips to Help You Prepare for Your Reality TV Auditions
  • Amit Lahav - Artistic Director of Gecko Theatre
  • ZU-UK presents Radio Ghost
  • Cinderella at Hounslow Arts Centre
  • Katy Owen: Auditioning for Oxford School of Drama
  • Tamburlaine at the Arcola Theatre
  • Romeo and Juliet- Rose Theatre, Kingston Sublime Shakespeare.
  • After All This- Ovalhouse
  • Ameena Hamid on Tales from the Tombstone Tavern
  • Olivia Coxhead
    Editor

  • May 22nd, 2016
  • comment iconNo Comments
  • Facebook14TweetLinkedInEmail

    Newsletter

    Enjoyed what you've read? Get even more great content directly to your inbox - Completely Free

    About Theatre Bubble

    Theatre Bubble is the news, review and blogging site created by Blue Pie Media and run by a dedicated team of outstanding editors and writers: we're always looking for new contributors - to find out more click here.

    Contact Us

    News: news@theatrebubble.com
    Reviews: reviews@theatrebubble.com
    Website: webmaster@theatrebubble.com

    Privacy Policy

    Copyright © 2022 · Blue Pie Media

     

    Loading Comments...
     

      Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

      Email sent!