Review: What Is Going On?

Puppetry. Poetry. Character acting. Dance. 

A smorgasbord of comedic delight, What Is Going On? offers a more prolific selection of performance genres than the Corpus Playroom sees all term. 

This one-woman show, written and performed by Sameera Bowers, tackles the question of what the future might hold for a geographer after university, and it is this recurring motif that threads together a collection of whimsical, absurd, and inspired comedy sketches. 

Image credits: Paul Ashley

For a Tuesday evening, the Corpus Playroom is buzzing; a well deserved sell-out performance. The lights dim, Sameera enters, and the fun begins. 

Though at times the comedy chaos has the potential to derail What is Going On? into total madness, directors Thomas Sweeney and Dom Andrew ensure that the audience is never lost in the crisis Sameera’s character finds herself in. The vision for this play is strong and confidently executed, and feels more like watching a high-stakes film than it does stand up due to its excellent cohesion. The show boasts an impressive record of script editors, and the contributions of Amenie Groves, Flora Maxwell, Lily Butler, Margaret Saunderson, James Allen and Grace Wakeman deserve due praise for the coherence and polish of the narrative. 

But the ultimate applause must go to Bowers. To have an audience hanging on your every word for 90 minutes whilst on a stage alone is an incredible feat. Absurd, committed and utterly delightful, Bowers’ brand of comedy is as entertaining as it is unique. 

Image credits: Paul Ashley

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Whilst What is Going On? encounters several mediums of performance, its pinnacle is its poetry. In a farcical parable of spherical cows (a strong indicator of the show’s tone), an impressive command of rhythm and rhyme is demonstrated through spoken word. It is delightfully Dr Seuss, and demonstrates the breadth of skill Bowers shows both as writer and performer.

Despite costume and staging being minimal, the show does not suffer for it. Characters are represented by single items: A shirt, a scarf, and coupled with keen audience engagement What is Going On? adopts a somewhat Brechtian feel. The passive role of the spectator is certainly provoked when they are made to chant “I am an empress”, and most certainly find themselves constantly wondering what is going on, and where will it go next? Yet this playful curiosity, a testing of boundaries and breaking them, is what sets this show apart. Afterwards, one audience member recounted that the performance was “the type of thing you can go into with absolutely no expectations and still come out surprised.” It rings true, the constant twists and turns are a joy to uncover.  

Image credits: Paul Ashley

Following some slapstick physical theatre that boldly toes an Artaudian line, Sameera plunges the auditorium into total darkness. However, even as a disembodied voice, she is able to keep the audience consistently cracking up; a testament to her expert comedic timing and versatility as a performer.

What is Going On? is exuberant, poignant and full of promise: an apotheosis of a Cambridge dramatist who will go far.

4.5/5

Image credits: Paul Ashley

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• Review: Julius Caeser 
• Preview: VEGAS
• Review: Penelope Quadrangle and the Meaning of Friendship