Imaginary Friends, Alphabetti Theatre Review
Written by Stacy for Theatre & Tonic
Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in exchange for an honest review.
If you let yourself fall, people will catch you" is the poignant conclusion to Daniel Bye's solo show Imaginary Friends. A piece that tackles difficult subject matter relating to death and the possibility of the world ending, with a considerable amount of consideration for AI thrown in for good measure.
Can you make death and the end of the world funny? Bye certainly gives it a try. His approach with this subject matter is geared towards the shock value - but there is extensive thought and careful timing that has gone into achieving this affect throughout the narrative, resulting in moments of unease at times. Theatre is meant to provoke a wide range of feelings and emotions, and unease is nothing to hide away from in the slightest.
Bye states he was going to write a show about the end of the world....but then his brother died. This stirs up suggestions of complicated grief that is manifested through imaginary friends and every which way an apocalypse might take effect. The emotional range of the piece is varied, from quiet moments of contemplation to mad fuelled erratic thoughts that spill from the mouth at a hundred miles per hour. Creating a varied pace that was only let down by the arrival of the interval. For me, the piece struggled to regain its sense of purpose and direction in the second half - only finding its way in the moving concluding moments.
The performance was engaging, and it is clear that Bye is comfortable breaking the fourth wall and talking directly to the audience. The stage was sparse, with only a chair, a Costa coffee cup and a packet of crisps for company - but with a cast of imaginary friends, Bye is not alone on this journey of grief.
Imaginary Friends is a rollercoaster of a show that swings from the poignant to the perculiar.
Running at Alphabetti until 6th April.
★ ★ ★
