EDINBURGH 2019: Review: CONSPIRACY, Underbelly

Conspiracy is stressful. It's an hour of three people - Rose Wardlaw, Azan Ahmed and Shannon Hayes - exploring their conspiracy theories around the famous 1932 photo of 11 builders precariously eating their lunch atop the skeleton of the Rockefeller Centre. In reality, it's a powder keg of stupefaction and anxiety. The concept is strong, but this show quickly tumbles into confusion and frustration.

As the three deliver their theories, tensions run high. It takes a while for Ahmed and Hayes to reach their boiling point, but Wardlaw is fraught from the get-go as she wants things to be just right. That's an understatement, actually, and 'traumatised' might be more apt. It's too baffling to be so stressed out by the tangible worry of one character from the outset, without really knowing why.

As time ticks by, Ahmed and Hayes hijack the more sensible explorations (although 'sensible' is used here in its most fragile form) with their theories, which is the point where the show becomes a battering ram of historical events likely to be subjected to conspiracy theorists. It's a LOT. At points it elicits a few chuckles, but the three actors lose a lot of their chemistry in their individual conquests to milk laughs from the Underbelly.

Dan Hutton has clearly directed a show within an inch of its life: the micro-detail is actually quite impressive. With the right playtext, it could be a match made in heaven. But this was just quite taxing on the blood pressure.

Conspiracy is at the Underbelly until 25 August

Photo by The Other Richard

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