REVIEW | Reboot Festival Week Two, Barons Court Theatre

Written by Cathie.

*Gifted tickets in return for an honest review.

Please note: This is a basement theatre staging area in a pub, so several sensory sensitivities might occur.  The walls and ceiling are painted black and to signal each play ending and the preparation for the next one beginning, the lights are switched off so the space is extremely dark. It’s something to bare in mind if you suffer from any claustrophobia or nyctophobia. It could be disorientating for some as when the lights do come back on quickly, they are very bright.  As well as the darkness mentioned above the first play uses missiles and other similar war effects, so if you’re sensitive to such sounds please be aware.

Trigger warnings: references to war, sexual assault, terminal disease

Diversity: This festival works hard to showcase diversity in all of its forms and attempts to balance representation within the pool of creatives they work with. These stories and writers are from USA, Venuzela, Canada, Switzerland and further to showcase new and engaging talent.

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This festival is much like a trilogy, with 3 weeks of rotating plays, 4 plays a night lasting between 15-30 minutes. As many readers and film aficionados will tell you, the second Instalment will always have the most difficult time. They don’t have the mystery of the first visit/ story and they don’t often have the high stakes wrap up of the third story, but the second needs to keep up the momentum, interest and tension in the audience. This second instalment, although shorter, has succeeded on all the above accounts.


Things Unsaid by Raegan Payne and Directed by Ed Hulme
This short play was an ingenious take on a usual dating scenario with two versions of a heterosexual couple. The ones sitting at the table were the real individuals experiencing the date and fallout of a love confession to a commitment-phobe. The other version of the couple was their inner conscious thoughts, desires and ego. This date starts well but slowly falls apart and it was really interesting seeing their inner dialogue on display and how all individuals keep a barrier between their true thoughts and what they consider socially acceptable to present. It is also interesting to see how although at first the man works hard at demonstrating a large amount of bravado and glee, this later reveals increasing vulnerability when faced with losing that which he is afraid to hold. (Performers Francesca Woods, Fran Isherwood, Joe Cook, Chris Laishley)

Spark by Siän Rowlant and Directed by Isabella Forshaw
This is an interesting play, telling of a first love and heartbreak in an 80’s village.  Written in spectacular prose which often rhymes in significant moments, this play flashes backwards and forwards to explain a first relationship between a naïve middle class 15 year old attending a convent school and a boy in the same year who goes to a comprehensive in the middle of the local council estate. This heartfelt play showcases our worries, insecurities, hopes and joys when embarking on a first relationship and its breakdown while highlighting the importance of consent, that not hearing ‘no’ is not an automatic yes and regardless of age and experience you should always feel able to use your voice.  (Performers India Lewis, Fergus Head)

Road Trip by Katherine Vondy and Directed by Chelsea Sheldon
This short play focuses on a romantic road trip between two young women. At first, it seems like a light-hearted dynamic of planner vs. spontaneous partners. However, it slowly reveals that on each stop, the couple see their future selves at different significant stages of their life.  It slowly reveals secrets about the characters, including one facing a future diagnosis with MS and how they will experience this disease’s impact together. This play reminds me of a peony in the sense that it starts off fluffy and open but quickly delves deeply into insights and profound questions on health and romantic attachments. (Performers Phoebe Gunson, Eleanor Willis)

The Dying Speech of a Living Legend by Daniel Connelly and Directed by Anna Clart

This play was the first and longest of the shows this week, starting off with a literal shock and attempted murder of a brutal and insane ‘Emperor of the West’ from an unknown country which is implied to be a melding of Imperial Rome and the USA’s federal republic. Set in a deep war bunker as missiles and other military sound effects boom ahead, The Emperor appears to have somehow gained immortality, although deeply regrets it. Whilst he lounges in bed watched over by an unnamed and completely silent sergeant, he monologues a great retelling of all the terrible things he has done to his family, including patricide and the millions he has murdered in a ‘great’ war. This monologue is beautifully written pondering of a man unburdened by guilt, empathy or any sentiment for his fellow human beings in a way that would rival Macievellan, Nietzsche or Macbeth in their unhinged soliloquies. At one point he grabs the sargent and asks if he’s known as the most awful man alive, to which he nods frantically and the emperor looks immensely satisfied. We see clashing moments of vulnerability where the Emperor seeks comfort from the soldier and dictates to a press office how he will be remembered in various hideous forms. (Performers Adam Walker-Kavanagh, Oliver Maynard)

Although all of these plays are brilliant snapshots into pivotal moments of time, this play would be the one I’d be most intrigued to see turned into a film or TV series as you’re left wanting to know more about this terribly charismatic yet unapologetic tyrant.  

For each of these plays the staging is simple and the few props are used to great effect. This was a strong second week of the Reboot festival, exploring themes of love, consent, tyranny through war, health and connections in the community and I look forward to see what the final week of plays shall hold.