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A strong cast infuse sadness and warmth into a chronicle of life's unavoidable companion: deathSummary
Rating
Good
Spanning over 80 years, A Brief List of Everyone Who Died delves into the world of Gracie (Vivia Font), exploring her encounters with death, from losing a family pet at a young age, all the way to her own inevitable passing. This isn’t a spoiler: the thematic focus is established from the beginning. The play is about death so it is only natural that we eventually reach Gracie’s own demise. As we follow her journey, glimpses of her life and love emerge, with death consistently accompanying her.
Font delivers a convincing portrayal of Gracie’s life from the age of five to 85, skilfully depicting her growth and development as she navigates the complexities of life. The script, penned by Jacob Marx Rice, seamlessly transitions through time, focusing on moments of death rather than strictly aligning with other life events — a narrative choice that reflects the unpredictability of life itself. Director Alex Howarth smartly keeps the focus on the people, with Gracie at the centre, life and death revolving around her.
Siphiwo Mahlentle shines in the production, particularly through his dual roles. His portrayal of Jordan, a character brimming with warm and infectious enthusiasm for dinosaurs, is a highlight of the evening. Later on, Mahlentle takes on the role of Malaki, Gracie’s son, illustrating his growth as he forges his own path and builds a family.
The stage design by Alice McNicholas features only simple chairs, but all underneath dangling, unlit bulbs, used to create a sense of inevitably. A bulb illuminates after each death, symbolising the accumulating losses that shape Gracie’s life. These are then depicted in the light above that grows over the evening. However, the inclusion of additional lamps around the stage, equipped with buttons to turn them on, slightly diminishes the visual impact created by the bulbs. It would have been more effective to rely on the natural progression of the overhead bulbs, waiting for them to accompany Gracie throughout her life’s journey. A large white sheet where we see projections (Rachel Sampley) of lives well-lived with photo memoria is effective, the visuals accompanied by simple piano music.
An interesting omission is rituals around death. Funerals are lightly touched on but with Gracie’s family being of Irish and Puerto Rican origins, it does seem a little odd that wakes and large family gatherings are not included more, especially as mechanisms to cope with death, or to bring people together in sorrow and in celebrations.
The play is far from a comedy, and descriptions of it being wickedly funny don’t quite align with its overall tone. In fact several audience members would have been grateful to have boxes of tissues available. That’s not to say that occasionally black humour does not surface, such as the amusing realisation of 40-something Gracie recalling being bribed with a Thundercats toy set to cope with the loss of yet another family pet.
A Brief List of Everyone Who Died has many sad moments and tears may be shed, but death is natural: it accompanies us through life and yet life goes on. There may not be literal light bulbs above us, but like Gracie, we carry our losses and memories with us throughout our lives. This production offers a warm evening in the lovely Finborough to reflect upon both the beauty and the fragility of our existence.
Written by Jacob Marx Rice
Directed by Alex Howarth
Set and Costume Design by Alice McNicholas
Lighting and Video Design by Rachel Sampley
A Brief List of Everyone Who Died plays at Finborough Theatre until 10 June. Further information and bookings can be found here.
