How To Kill Your Landlord by Bedlam Theatre Review
Written by Becky for Theatre & Tonic
Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in exchange for an honest review
Walking into the upstairs of the Drayton Arms Theatre Space, ‘Burning Down the House’ by Talking Heads is playing. The on-stage set depicts that all-too-familiar messy university house. The Edinburgh Fringe season has begun.
Landing at the world’s largest arts festival this August, Meade Conway’s ‘How to Kill Your Landlord’ is a dark comedy exploring the depths three disgruntled tenants would go to defeat their landlord. It’s a play that doesn’t take itself seriously, however sometimes this obliviousness verges on the ridiculous.
Living under the roof of evil landlord Archie (John Gregor), our three heroes - a yoga instructor, crypto bro and corporate rat racer - all have something in common. They need to get rid of their landlord. After Archie pays an unwelcome visit and gives them a one week eviction notice, Harriet (Frankie Weatherby), Burke (Robbie Fletcher-Hill) and Joq (Elijah Khan) scheme together to kill their greedy landlord. With their home and deposits on the line, their plans backfire with grizzly consequences.
Directed by Calum Shiels, the overall style of the play was slapstick and silly. Fletcher-Hill does really well as Burke, using hyperbolic physicality and facial expressions to match the outrageousness of the plot. Similarly, Gregor leans into the pantomime villain character of the landlord, playing up to the ignorant archetype, which was welcomed by the audience.
Unfortunately, punchlines and shenanigans are where this play starts and ends. The plot is unfocused and rushed, and it is repeatedly unclear of what its intentions are. It unravels in the third act, where the housemates try to punish Archie from the afterlife, which ultimately leads to the show’s ironic finishing punchline failing to land due to its predictability.
There is little development in the on-stage relationships, with most of Harriet, Burke and Joq’s dynamic being summarised with cheap jokes and stereotypes. Burke is the only character who offers poignancy to the narrative, claiming Harriet and Joq are all he’s got. However, the lack of relationship building prior to this declaration makes it difficult to believe, and the emotional weight of this moment is unfortunately lost.
Playing at the Fringe all of August, How To Kill Your Landlord is a raucous dark comedy that embodies the frustration that all renters have felt at some point in their lives, yet is more slapstick attack than social substance. Regardless, the cast seem like they are having tons of fun, and the audience responded accordingly; after all, everyone can identify some part of their own landlord in this (apart from my landlord, of course, if you’re reading this. Love you x).
