Review: DEAD DAD SHOW, VAULT Festival
Underneath all the fuss and early-draft vibe, Simon David's piece is ultimately a tender and heartfelt play about family and art.
Some shows are great even when everything goes wrong. Some shows shine through missed cues, nerves, line prompts, and failing tech. Some shows are simply excellent trainwrecks. Simon David's Dead Dad Show is one of those. With a personality the size of a football stadium and the effortlessness of a consummate entertainer, he saves his own piece. It could have all gone so very wrong, but it didn't.
After a sudden cancer diagnosis, his dad wrote a one-man act about it. He passed away shortly after in 2018, so now Simon is writing his own to remember him and deal with the loss. It's a mish-mash of genres, mocking popular theatre tropes and subverting genres. In sequence, he spoofs Everybody's Talking About Jamie and The Normal Heart before going into an interpretative dance and even TikTok. It's honestly fantastic.
Evans is unafraid of making fun of himself as well as the industry's traditional forms, but - underneath all the fuss and early-draft vibe - Dead Dad Show is ultimately a tender and heartfelt play about family and art. A reminder to cherish those we love. It will appeal to those who have dark humour as their coping mechanism and laugh about dead dad jokes.
The footage of his late father introduces a profound man with a sharp wit and lovely demeanour. While we can't officially give more than three for obvious reasons, this is a five-star show at heart. We can't wait to see its final form.
From This Author - Cindy Marcolina
Italian export. Member of the Critics' Circle (Drama). Also a script reader and huge supporter of new work. Twitter: @Cindy_Marcolina
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Review: CONTEMPT, VAULT FestivalMarch 19, 2023
While the writing is gripping and Gabrielle Nellis-Pain’s performance is excellent, there’s something missing. Catherine’s colleagues are ancient ghosts through the hallowed corridors as she puts on a sleazy, raspy voice to portray them against her well-spoken main character.
Review: YOU ARE GOING TO DIE, VAULT FestivalMarch 19, 2023
You are going to die. It’s a certainty, but it’s also the title of the latest play by This is Not Culturally Significant writer Adam Scott-Rowley. Performed entirely naked, You Are Going To Die is a show about everything and nothing. You can read as much or as little as you wish in it. What does it deal with? We’d love to know - we came out of it with more questions than answers. It feels like a social experiment or an impenetrable piece of performance art. It might just be simply throwing stuff at a wall to see what sticks.
Review: FREAK OUT!, VAULT FestivalMarch 19, 2023
Coin Toss Collective are an exceptionally creative young company. Freak Out! highlights a problem that wouldn’t cross the mind of the average British person who lives in the inland. They deliver an amusing, chaotic farewell to East Anglia. Who would’ve thought that a show about coastal erosion would be so cool!
Review: VANILLA, VAULT FestivalMarch 19, 2023
Laura Mead writes with prudish humour while Keith Swainston directs her, Ned Wakeley (Dan), and Scott Henderson in a production that’s almost as uninteresting as Katie and Dan’s sex life. Mead’s script is as traditional as the missionary position, but wishes to be as funny as an inappropriate joke at a funeral. She gives her character a silver tongue and wit for days, and she’s great at delivering too, but the plot is awkwardly stale in its predictability.
Review: BURNOUT, VAULT FestivalMarch 19, 2023
This approach has the story losing focus and looks like a plain attempt at quirkiness. Ultimately, while they mention how difficult it is to have only one hour, the piece comes off as struggling to fill those 60 minutes. All in all, the spirit of Burnout is strong and the creatives behind it have all the right ideas. Perhaps a stronger grasp on a more developed plot might help this naive call to arms.
