People, Places and Things - Trafalgar Theatre Review

Photo by Marc Brenner

Written by Charlotte for Theatre and Tonic.

Disclaimer: Tickets were gifted in return for an honest review. All views are my own.

This production contains strong language and themes of addiction, depictions of substance abuse and the use of needles, and references to suicide. There are strobe lighting effects, sudden and prolonged loud noises, and the smoking of herbal cigarettes.

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Duncan MacMillan’s viscerally affective drama cements itself as a modern classic in this knockout revival. Despite approaching ten years since its debut production at the National Theatre’s Dorfman Theatre, People, Places & Things seems as though it could’ve been written yesterday in its disturbing relevance. It centres on ‘Emma,’ played with disquieting fervour by Denise Gough, an actress and addict going through rehab after her substance usage spirals out of control. Gough reprises the role after having originated it at the Dorfman in 2015, and her ownership of it is apparent from the very first breath she takes. Gough plays every agonizing moment of Emma’s journey with such raw, embodied intensity that it feels almost voyeuristic to watch.

It is that sense of voyeurism, in fact, that makes People, Places & Things so uniquely effective. MacMillan astutely mirrors the addict’s inclination to lie with the actor’s hunger for identities outside of themselves. Emma professes that acting gives her the same high as drugs, but that ‘good parts’ are just much harder to come by. She is obsessed with the concept of truth and reality, even as she delivers a myriad of falsehoods in group therapy. The play’s title, People, Places & Things, references the ‘nouns’ that addicts must consider and avoid when they re-enter the real world – people who make them want to use, places they associate with using, and things which enable their using. These people, places and things are not dissimilar to the ‘Given Circumstances’ of Stanislavski, a prominent method in the world of acting, in Emma’s world. Indeed, the entire play is really a performance of performance, obsessed with the artifice of reality. With the installation of on-stage seating, audiences are forced to watch each other as they watch the performance, to be constantly aware of their own position as spectators to Emma’s constructions of reality, begging the uncomfortable question: if addition is selfish, if it will tell any tale it can to keep itself alive, are we complicit in its destruction by giving it an audience?

If those questions aren’t enough to leave you unnerved, the cacophonous atmosphere certainly will. Framed by Bunnie Christie’s sterile set design, Emma’s detox-induced hallucinations play like a horror movie, with a soundscape by Tom Gibbons that sneaks up on you like a nightmare and harrowing lighting design by James Farncombe. Add in some real monstrous movement direction by Polly Bennett, and you have an experience that will twist your stomach in knots while refusing to let you look away.

If you’re looking for a light evening at the theatre, this is probably not making the list. Indeed, I strongly suggest carefully reviewing the play’s content and production warnings before choosing to attend. That said however, if you are willing and able to face this gut-punch of a drama, it is certainly worth its weight. Between its painfully felt direction and richly complex framework, People, Places & Things is a piece that will sit in the hollows of your mind long after its final blackout.

At Trafalgar Theatre until 10 August 2024.

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆