Review: Blackout Songs

“You told me you loved me, once. You said you carried me. You remember that? You still carry me? Or did you drop me, somewhere along the line?”

Memory is tricky in the Lady Margaret Players’ spin on Joe White’s Blackout Songs. A chance encounter at an AA meeting makes for an unlikely “meet-cute”, and indeed we follow our charming couple, named only as Him and Her, down through passionate trysts, tortured artistry, brief sobriety and alcoholic amnesia to their unhappy conclusion.

Taking the late show at Corpus Playrooms, Blackout Songs is a thrilling shock, the source material handled with great care, rarely sounding insincere or moralising, and instead a powerful commentary on the consuming double-bind of alcoholism and flawed love.

via Katie Burge

The pair perform a great feat in commanding the stage alone for the entirety of Blackout Songs’ 90-minute runtime. Blossom Durr’s magnetic, crackling Her averts stereotype through a compelling, vulnerable insecurity, playing brilliantly off the physicality and emotive performance of Sri Haran Loganathan’s Him. Both are convincing in their cycling anecdote and oscillating roles in playing out the sad deterioration of two lives, and indeed minds. The terse dialogue and clipped, wry puns delivered charmingly by both were winning with the audience and kept the performance from straying into the melodramatic. Their strong performance takes about five minutes to become fully convincing, but once it does, this depiction of annihilating co-dependence is thrilling, terrible and deeply sad to watch.

via Katie Burge

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When student actors try the roles of older people struggling with substance abuse, there is a risk of appearing precocious or insincere, but this production manages a respectful and convincing performance of alcoholism, owing largely to the delicate handling by its actors, and the restraint exercised with prop usage. The daring script is matched by its performers. Missing teeth, plague role play and “latent Catholic guilt” make for an electric night of drama.

via Katie Burge

Praise must be given to the skilful use of lighting in Blackout Songs’ punctuating interludes, standing in for the disorientation of alcoholic amnesia. Tactfully avoiding cheap montage, the shock of cold neon and the thrum of heavy bass lend an awful powerlessness to the experience, filling the intimate space of the Corpus Playroom and mimicking the sensory experience of inebriation. There are moments when the creative staging becomes distracting, but it is overwhelmingly convincing. Deeply immersive, the production’s generous use of props paired with sparing furniture makes for a raw, visceral portrait of mutual alcoholism, and allows no barrier between the pair and their audience.

via Katie Burge

The Lady Margaret Players’ Blackout Songs manages its bleak and difficult subject matter well. Impressive direction from Katie Burge keeps the stakes high and the turbulent emotional back and forth maintains its charge throughout. The play does not feel its 90 minutes. Despite starting with our couple going drinking from an AA meeting and taking us down every step of the way with them, until the last minute of its runtime Blackout Songs retains its power to shock.

This is a production not soon forgotten – don’t miss out!

Review Score: 4.5/5

Blackout Songs is showing in Corpus Playroom from Wednesday 12^th to Saturday 15^th February. Get your tickets here.

Featured image credits: Katie Burge