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Monologue performs all the time strike me as one of many scariest issues an actor or author can tackle. It’s no imply feat to carry the viewers engaged in your story, to maintain the tempo and vitality up, and to recollect all of your traces. I’m in awe of the artwork kind, when it’s accomplished effectively. The High Life, at nearly two hours lengthy, appears like a dangerous endeavour from playwright Scott Younger. But any issues had been quickly out of my thoughts as Feyisara Mendes got here onto the stage as Kayla and began dancing.The High Life follows Kayla who’s in…
Rating
Excellent
A mixture of glorious writing and a unbelievable efficiency mix to make this monologue really feel like an evening spent with a good friend, as she pours her coronary heart out.
Monologue performs all the time strike me as one of many scariest issues an actor or author can tackle. It’s no imply feat to carry the viewers engaged in your story, to maintain the tempo and vitality up, and to recollect all of your traces. I’m in awe of the artwork kind, when it’s accomplished effectively. The High Life, at nearly two hours lengthy, appears like a dangerous endeavour from playwright Scott Younger. But any issues had been quickly out of my thoughts as Feyisara Mendes got here onto the stage as Kayla and began dancing.
The High Life follows Kayla who’s in a seemingly dead-end job, serving hipsters difficult coffees following a media research diploma. Until a fateful day when she reconnects with an previous good friend who helps her get a job at a PR agency. It all sounds dreamy for Kayla till she will get along with her boss on a drunken night time out in her first week. What follows is like studying Kayla’s diary. It’s juicy. It’s sincere. At instances it’s totally heart-breaking. But this uncooked vitality makes the efficiency charming to observe.
Mendes is partaking, humorous and shortly appears like a finest mate confiding in you on the pub. She is an unimaginable expertise. Her impersonations of the opposite individuals in Kayla’s life are witty and spot on, from her landlord Stan, who’s a bit like Del Boy, to the ladies at work discussing Love Island. There are just a few small slip-ups in the course of the play, and Mendes appears totally unfazed as she strikes swiftly on. She holds the room captivated all through, and it’s solely in the direction of the final half hour that the viewers appear to collectively realise simply how uncomfortable the seats are on the Barons Court Theatre.
There’s a threat {that a} play a few self-destructive twenty-something may set off a number of Flea Bag comparisons, but Younger’s writing feels wholly unique, and you end up totally invested in Kayla’s story. The play packs in an actual mixture of snicker out loud, foolish moments but additionally manages to spotlight the pressures of poisonous workplaces, racism and the value of what seems to be success. You’re rooting for Kayla all through the efficiency.
The set is saved easy within the restricted house of this intimate venue, however small touches are noticeable, such because the PR firm branding on a mug. Mendes is a bit of clumsy at instances, however whether or not it’s intentional or not, bumping into the desk or opening her laptop computer the fallacious method spherical appears to feed into the personable character she portrays.
There had been clearly a number of Mendes’ pals within the viewers tonight – an unpopular commentary maybe, however typically this may be annoying for the remainder of the viewers as laughter might be too loud, intimate or sexual moments set off sniggers – irrespective of the seriousness of the scenario. However, tonight the gang had been sensible to be part of. At one level, in the direction of the tip of the story, Mendes needed to pause as a remark from an viewers member about what was about to occur resulted in laughter from everybody. It was a miracle she didn’t corpse. This supportive gang of pals lifted tonight’s efficiency.
Youngers’ delicate, amusing, and heartfelt textual content meets its good match in Mendes’ efficiency and Sarah Githugu’s course. These are actually some skills to observe.
Written by: Scott Younger
Directed by: Sartah Githugu
Produced by: Olivia Burin and Forest Theatre Company
The High Life performs at Barons Court Theatre till 19 February. Further data and bookings might be discovered right here.