Theatre N16 5 – 9 June. Reviewed by Claire Roderick
Leftovers plays with the audience, keeping you in a mildly bemused state trying to work out which parts of Lizzie’s story are real and which are fantasy.
A seemingly sweet picture book romance between Lizzie (Gabrielle Sheppard – who also wrote the play) and Harry (Christopher Adams) during an impending invasion of London plays out before the narrative fragments into 2 different strands. We see the couple packing happily for their honeymoon, and then see the same scene but with Lizzie packing to flee and Harry signing up to fight.
Lizzie falls pregnant and has a daughter (Ella Cook), or is it a phantom pregnancy after Harry’s death? We see Lizzie as an old, silent woman visited by her daughter as she plans her wedding, and begin to wonder if this is all the failing and erratic memories of a deteriorating mind, until the final moments, revealing Lizzie’s rescue on the French shore after fleeing London. The imagined lives she could have lived are the story she tells herself and the rescuers to cope with her dire situation as a refugee.
I think.
The use of rhythmic movement and the repeated shouts of “Run!” build tension and are quite unnerving, the exception being the delightfully coy sex scene involving thigh slapping and gasping. The set is basically a heap of clothes, that are moved around to great effect, but you begin not to see this, as you cannot take your eyes off the intense performances.
The cast are fantastic – and very fit (I was out of breath watching them at times), and subtly change their performances in each strand of Lizzie’s life.
Imagining the plight of refugees from London is a wonderful idea when empathy for refugees from Syria is non-existent amongst some UK residents, especially when the story is told in such an evocative and original way. A fascinating play.