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The Vaults, below the rail traces of Waterloo station, is an ideal venue for Death Suits You. The viewers enters an extended, cellar like tunnel, with the benches and stage within the center, to create an empty house both aspect. It’s harking back to these infinite white rooms that seem in movies, the place somebody is about to fulfill their maker. The protagonist, (or antagonist?), is at work because the viewers enters, sorting by way of information at a white desk on an in any other case empty stage. The play begins with the awkward and shy Death (Sam Hooper) introducing himself. He’s fast to guarantee…
Rating
Excellent
This hilarious but shifting present could have you empathising with Death himself.
The Vaults, below the rail traces of Waterloo station, is an ideal venue for Death Suits You. The viewers enters an extended, cellar like tunnel, with the benches and stage within the center, to create an empty house both aspect. It’s harking back to these infinite white rooms that seem in movies, the place somebody is about to fulfill their maker. The protagonist, (or antagonist?), is at work because the viewers enters, sorting by way of information at a white desk on an in any other case empty stage.
The play begins with the awkward and shy Death (Sam Hooper) introducing himself. He’s fast to guarantee us that it’s not our time (but) since that’s what individuals usually suppose when assembly him. He slowly pulls paperwork out of the file, and among the people he’s killed are revealed. The artwork and precision it takes to plan somebody’s loss of life is defined, like timing a joke completely as somebody takes a chew of meals, to permit for them to choke.
He recounts particular examples, starting with amusing innocuous particulars about their life, and points he’s needed to introduce from childhood to arrange for the long run; for example, a binge consuming dysfunction launched within the teen years that results in the downfall of a wedding. As anticipated, they finish in tragedy, some genuinely shifting and others with self-aware flare for the dramatic (generally a lover’s quarrel requires a thunderstorm outdoors.)
After every story, there’s a lovely show of inventive expression, whether or not it’s a tune, dance or poetry. Sam Hooper is an extremely proficient author and performer, charming the viewers for the present’s entirety. In these moments of expression, Death distances himself from his traditional quick-witted viewers interactions and ‘becomes’ these he’s killed, artistically depicting a drowning by way of a motion sequence, or illustrating a tragic loss of life by way of inspiring poetry.
He is accompanied by a musician who performs guitar, piano and percussion to deliver the tales to life. He’s additionally accompanied by the symphony of thundering trains above, which provides to the gloomy purgatory-like environment for the present.
Death oscillates between pleasure within the many distinctive methods he has ended somebody’s life, and recognition that his job isn’t understood or appreciated. Hooper makes the viewers chortle about loss of life, each the previous and what we have now to sit up for sooner or later (massive plans with world warming). Despite this, the tragedy and loss that may lead as much as loss of life, particularly that of a kid or suicide, isn’t neglected. With nice empathy, he describes some vicious cycles individuals discover themselves in, uncomfortably reminding the viewers of how persons are typically victims of circumstance.
Switching between the comedic and sombre tones of this present so shortly and regularly within the house of the hour is a threat, however it’s clear that while it is a darkish comedy we aren’t laughing straight on the tragedies. Hooper efficiently walks a tremendous line between the 2 moods, fastidiously balancing melancholy with laughter, and crafting a really pleasurable but shifting present.
Although there may be little storyline, every anecdote contains some narrative that tells us extra about Death as we go alongside. The present concludes with Death reminding us to dwell life to the fullest, at once, not that we have now had the possibility to see some issues from their perspective. He ends positively, on the notice that even when all people else has forgotten us, we’ll be immortalised in his reminiscences.
Written by: Sam Hooper
Directed by: Gabrielle Scawthorn
Composed by: Robert Tripolino
Death Suits You performs as a part of VAULT Festival 2023 till 10 February.