EDINBURGH 2023: Review: THEM, Pleasance Dome

“We are so sorry for what you’re about to see.” For women in men’s shirts sit on a toilet, constantly apologising while they welcome the crowd into the auditorium. What ensues is a frighteningly lifesize portrait of the patriarchy.

Built over the course of seven years with extracts from interviews with male-identifying individuals and their own personal stories, Them is rightfully enraging. From inculcating servitude from a young age to weaponised incompetence, the company breaks open toxic masculinity to reveal its inner workings. 

Some fathers aren’t able to cry at their son’s funerals, others can only show love by fixing issues in their daughter’s homes. New dads are being praised for keeping their child entertained while the mother showers. It’s the little things that make the big ones. Bergdis Julia Johannsdottir, Anna korolainen Crevier, Marjo Lahti, and Tinna Thorvalds Onnudottir go from compulsively asking our forgiveness to being ball-scratching, emotionally repressed figures of male autocracy. While perhaps a tad too long for what it is, the production is a startling eye-opener.

Unnur Elisabet Gunnarsdottir directs with a compelling, dynamic vision, using Sara Hjordis Blondal’s set design as agents that move the action. A number of dark suits surround the four, hiding props and acting as a stark reminder of those with the upper-hand. Dramaturge Audur Berdis doesn’t provide a solution, opting to push the audience to come to their own conclusions and implement change in their own lives. Made entirely by a female team it’s a play for men; women already know the despair of living in a man’s world.

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