Paul McCartney Is Dead takes place in the aftermath of a revolution which has changed the world completely - and the new world ahead isn't looking good. The set, designed by Andrew Buckingham, is a domestic interior featuring a table with pink tablecloth, peeling red-painted chairs, and forbiddingly dark drapes. There are jars of the preservative chemical formalin on the walls stuffed with pickled objects. A hanging banner carries the slogan Root Out The Weeds. During the course of the play the slogan changes to Love and Say Nothing. The set and its decoration help establish a feeling of discomfort and unspecified threat which fit very well into the content and drama of the production.

Paul (Luke Surl), Libby (Louisa Coward), Simon (Steve King), and the memory of Amber (Imogen Goodman) inhabit the remains of a house in which they are watched by grey ghosts. The play's action begins with a carnival. Numbers are recited by Fire, a ghost played with great intensity by Miriam Sully. As with Libby so far (Libby is in fact the storyteller), it's not quite clear what this recital means. 1066 is mentioned, the year of the Battle of Hastings [see eg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hastings, considered by some historians] a turning point in British history; the present world of Paul McCartney Is Dead follows this more recent one.

An oppressive regime now in place, The Corporation, has taken freedom from the people it governs. The question of freedom, its arbitrary removal, the effect this has on the individual and on the relationships between individuals - and what exactly freedom means when it comes down to small and large specifics of everyday life - are themes running through the play. Pop music no longer exists, nor does any kind of machine on which it can be played. So one of the confiscated freedoms is the ability to listen to Paul McCartney [UK musician, b 1942]. The Paul of this play preserves a tape of Paul McCartney's last words in a jar of formalin. Famine (Matthew Bunn) and Pestilence (Liz Jardine Smith) appear as ghosts; and there is a chorus (Matthew Bunn, Miriam Sully, Liz Jardine Smith).

Libby tends to her dying sunflowers as if they are babies, and hoards food under the table. There is a telling of a conspiracy theory about the supposed death at an early stage in his career of [ex Beatles member] Paul McCartney [following which, the theory went, he was replaced by someone else; see eg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_is_dead]. There's an intense atmosphere, and the grey ghosts create an uncomfortable feeling, especially when they stare hard. There is subtle humour humming under the intense script; that and a certain amount of tongue-in-cheek keep the play lighter than it at first appears.

With Paul McCartney Is Dead from Broken Glass Theatre Company (www.brokenglassplay.co.uk), writer Vicky Flood and director Alex Buckingham put together a concise world with much meaning in about an hour's running time. There is music by Alex Buckingham and Tom Ward. Lighting is designed by Anna Sbokou, with production photographs by Sam Dub.

Cast Credits: (alpha order): Matthew Bunn - Famine / Chorus. Louisa Coward - Libby. Imogen Goodman - Amber. Steve King - Simon. Miriam Sully - Fire / Chorus. Luke Surl (www.lukesurl.com) - Paul. Liz Jardine Smith - Pestilence / Chorus.

Company Credits: Writer - Vicky Flood. Director - Alex Buckingham. Music by - Alex Buckingham & Tom Ward; Performed by - Tom Ward. Set Designer - Andrew Buckingham. Soundscape - Tom Ward. Lighting Designers - Anna Sbokou & Sarah Crocker. Technical Operators - Anna Sbokou & Sarah Crocker. Assistant director - Vicky Flood. Production Photographer - Sam Dub. Press - Vicky Flood. Box Office Manager - Anna Rapp. Producer - uncredited. Company - Broken Glass Theatre Company. Website - www.brokenglassplay.co.uk.

END

(c) Paulette Caletti 2010

reviewed Sunday 29 August 10 / The Rag Factory, London UK

Note - Another play by the same production company: Fringe Report review of The Golem

www.fringereport.com/

Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2011

www.fringereport.com