Latest from Noises Off
“there are two worlds, hers and mine…”
The show ends. I turn to mum, a smile on my lips, a frown on hers.
I loved it. [silence]
It was pure emotion. It was horrible and amazing, I mean all of the thought that went into it bleeds through —I love the thoughts. But—
But it was amazing right? Of course, but—
The cave was stunning – It was clearly a womb. Just call it a womb – and despite the phenomenal performance, I felt myself most drawn to it, to this universe of tainted white. And the black goo, the other world, I loved that bit.
The editing was mad, like actually mad. Every time it cut from one line into a closeup I felt pure glee. The soundscape placed me right in the centre of an unsettling world. I liked their deliberate use of silence. That moment – music cut – and then – “you are dust.” She literally held the audience in the palm of her hand. The whole play was held in that one moment.
Tilly Botsford’s Daughter was a hybrid being. With painful abandonment, she contained within herself the pain and need and anger and utter devastation of grief. This submersion into unfiltered subconscious made the personal universal.
It’s not for everyone.
It was an onslaught.
There were moments of colour. ‘I’m asking for a friend.’ I didn’t feel invited in, not enough light. Yeah, but you can’t always have an upside – There can always be light. There can always be light.
It was Brave. It was Brave.
Ripped from the one true unconditional love, the desperate need to be as revolting as possible and still to be loved is obliviating. It came from a place of pain. It was honest.
You Will See Everything is provocative theatre, unashamedly so. The tidal wave of emotion necessary to express the things that cannot be said (only felt) elevated Daughter to the role of Greek Chorus in high tragedy. With deliberately understated cinematography, powerful writing and a striking performance, You Will See Everything shows what theatre-film, at its height, can be. The play seethed with self-loathing, raw anger, and a visceral clawing search for unconditional love.
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