Review: Eight, Part 1

Part I of Eight is a thoroughly impressive feat!


This production of Eight by Ella Hickson is a thoroughly impressive feat. Each monologue is compelling and the audience was kept in rapt attention throughout the performances. Every facet of the theatrical process shone – strong writing, polished direction and superb acting.

The title Eight is in fact somewhat of a misnomer – each production consists of four monologues, one set on the Tuesday and Wednesday performances, with a different collection on Thursday and Friday, followed by the four audience favourites on Saturday. This structure works excellently and limiting the selection to four prevents the audience from feeling emotionally bludgeoned by too many competing storylines.

Millie Chapman as ‘Mona’

The team went with a minimalist set and few props so the onus was wholly on the actors to generate energy and engage the audience with each character’s narrative and plight. This is no easy task without the dynamics afforded by an ensemble cast, but the absence of such a crutch was no impediment to these performers.

With only fifteen minutes to form a relationship between audience and each character, there is the risk of under-developing storylines and disorienting audience members. Eight manages to avoid this pitfall adroitly. Rather, the actors delivered perfectly assured and absorbing performances – one couldn’t help but relate to their characters.

Particularly impressive was David Shields’ piece about an American banker’s descent into hedonistic excess following a near-death experience, as well as Christopher Adams’ flamboyant portrayal of a gay art gallery owner, in shock following the suicide of his lover. All four actors displayed an excellent ability to draw out their characters’ vulnerabilities, which each possessed in spades.

David Shields as ‘Miles’

 

Across the four monologues there are uniting undercurrents of loneliness and a sense of people adrift, who are questioning the role they’ve been shoehorned into within society. Deep feelings of self-loathing and bitterness also surfaced in parts; in some sense the monologues provided an outlet for these characters, to open up to the audience in ways they couldn’t or wouldn’t to the others in their lives.

One also came away with the distinct impression that these characters were trying to rationalise their actions and ways of living to the audience members, and possible more importantly, to themselves. This came out clearly through Alice Porter’s strong performance as Millie, purveyor of marital supplements, who spends fourteen minutes detailing her pride in her work, before ultimately revealing a deep yearning for that which she so expertly supplements.

The monologues are intended to be a reflection of the younger generation, and as such they paint a bleak picture of a generation that has become lost and is struggling to hold onto a sense of identity. Taken together, they are deeply evocative and manage engage with clichéd themes in a refreshingly insightful way – a set of performances that are not to be missed.

Images: Alex Darby ©