Reviewer: Christine Stanton
Writer and Director: Heather Collier
“Narrative Thread Overload”
3.5 / 5
~This review was originally written for The Reviews Hub ~
The local Cancer Research charity shop is a goldmine for thrifters like Poppy, hunting through the racks for hidden vintage gems at next-to-nothing prices. Agnes has worked there for years – seeing the clothing items as extensions of people themselves, relating each donation to a memory or conversation with a customer. Simon is grieving, doing the best he can to distract himself and reignite some excitement into his life. None of the three strangers would have expected to end up as witnesses in a murder investigation, but they’re now linked together forever.
The first half of Heather Collier’s intriguing narrative is fantastic – introducing the characters exceptionally well, giving just the right amount of back story and allowing the audience to engage with each separate storyline. It’s a short act, at only 30 minutes before the interval, so the punchy, quick-moving but well-explained story is paced perfectly to excite and engage straight out of the gates. The three main characters Agnes (LilyAnn Green), Simon (Jimmy Roberts) and Poppy (Lola Cranleigh) are all very relatable – people you’d meet at work or in the pub, likeable personalities with clear motivations and easy-to-follow monologues.
The second half is much longer at 1 hour 20 minutes long and it’s unclear why the two halves aren’t better balanced to help the flow of the storyline evolve more smoothly. This act is much less succinct compared to the first, with an overwhelming array of narrative threads, characters and themes haphazardly crammed into the performance. There are some long, repetitive monologues about feminism and global warming that are out of place and not well integrated into the overarching narrative. While both themes definitely make sense in having an impact on the show they are shoehorned in out of nowhere, almost as a standalone speech, rather than interjected carefully into the storyline. The bizarre rant about turtles in the middle of a poignant conversation between Agnes and Poppy is a perfect example of this, coming across as an afterthought to the script just to force an intended message in but instead muddying the overall narrative.
Aside from the randomly thrown in themes, there are too many characters and intended story-arcs added in that don’t really have any relevance – Simon’s brother being in a motorbike accident is briefly mentioned a few times but never given enough time to fully develop, while his relationship with his flatmate (Dotty Jones) is quickly embedded into the storyline but seemingly unnecessarily. The addition of all the additional characters and their stories mean it becomes so convoluted that the original essence of the story is lost. There is the hope that the conclusion would integrate everything together seamlessly, but disappointingly only a few things linked, a missed opportunity for a brilliant finale.
The cast are absolutely fantastic – all of them executing their roles confidently and with the right amount of dark humour required. The friendships between Julia (Poppy Charlton) and Sarah (Bec Barton), and between Poppy (Lola Cranleigh) and Liz (Bec Barton) are brilliantly conveyed, all three actors really shining both individually and alongside each other. There are numerous points where this show feels as though it would be better executed as a short 4-6 episode TV series rather than a theatre production. This would give more space for the side-stories to breathe and allow the development of each story-arc to flourish with the additional time and attention.
This is an exciting premise and, by removing some of the overloading number of narrative threads, has the opportunity to become the cleverly woven story it is intended to be. The frustration of extra narratives and crammed in themes comes from seeing the brilliant potential in the script and wanting the best from it in future performances.
Runs until 2 September 2023
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