Baron’s Court Theatre, London – 23rd March 2024
Reviewed by Amelia O’Loughlin
3***
X by Alastair McDowall, performed by KDC*
Delving into the bunker of Baron’s Court Theatre, you really feel you’re leaving the world behind, and that continues to be true when the lights come up on a bleak and minimal set – a spaceship that’s settled on Pluto – and has ceased all contact with earth. Tensions are high from the get go. An X on the wall, in human blood, tells us we’re in for violence, and as fraught conversations ensue it’s clear that insanity is bubbling away beneath their mundane, everyday tasks. A group of scientists who seemingly would never cross paths in the real world attempt to navigate an enclosed space, with an unknown amount of “time” stretched ahead of them. Time has been warped on this spaceship – the comforting structures of time, as we know it on earth, are not to be underestimated. Joanna Mills’ performance as Mattie is one that deserves particular attention; her subtleties and emotional complexities were delivered accurately and measuredly, exhibiting a strong relationship with McDowall’s pacey and punchy writing.
Frustratingly, the other actors, who were very well cast, were poorly directed. Their physicality and movement on stage was passable but the real problem was their diction. The incessantly high-pitched and high-volume ranting and raving made their journeys impossible to follow or be interested in – they began angry and ended angry, there was no relationship or character arc, and so investment into their lives was lost very early on. That said, the actors gave the performance high energy and much commitment.
As the crew’s grasp on reality truly wanes, varying levels of conflict and nostalgia erupt from them – one by one – their wishes, wants, dreams, flaws and vulnerabilities come to the surface. They attack one another because they have nowhere else to direct their frustration. They hold onto the past because the future’s so disastrous. Their respective truths are outed. The play closes and we’re left with the questions: how necessary is the (taken-for-granted) system of time to humanity’s sanity & survival? And, will we forever be living in the past and future if the present is not all it was cracked up to be?
*fairypowered would like to point out that the reviewer did not stay to watch the second half of the production, so this is not a fair review. fairypowered does not condone reviewers leaving a production half way through and would like to apologise to the everyone concerned for the rudeness of the reviewer concerned