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Zoo Southside – Studio
Emerged in the 50s as a response to the horrors of two World Wars and questioning the meaning of identity, Absurdism is timely revived by this new play to expose the indifference that riddles our society.Summary
Rating
Excellent
“Do not stand idly by when your neighbour’s life is threatened”: what turns out to be the keynote in this piece of new writing by Charlie Thurston is delivered very casually amongst reflections over apples and peaches, and other pointless exchanges.
Sat on a crate by the side of a dirt road, a beggar (Freddie Houlahan) is looking through a very small Bible for a verse he has stuck in his head. All of a sudden, another equally dishevelled man (Jo Rich) appears dragging a huge wooden coffin. Despite being empty, the ominous load is heavy and the beggar invites his newly acquired friend to have some rest in his company.
In the best Absurdist fashion, the conversation evolves through quick reparteé, but without really making any sense. For example, we never get to know the two men’s names. “Do you like peaches?” the new man asks the beggar, whilst contradictorily taking an apple out of his satchel. The resemblance to Beckett’s style in Waiting for Godot immediately comes to mind, as the two men maintain a lively, and yet very formal, interaction. By the time they seem to have reached any reasonable conclusions, the conversation has moved so far that nobody even remembers what they were talking about in the first place. It goes in circles, with the self-assured beggar shifting between being patronising and caring, and the susceptible man with the coffin fighting an internal battle with his own self-doubt. Without creating too much fuss, every now and then some loud explosions can be heard in the background – they’ve been going on for a long time, we are told.
Meanwhile, still sat on the crate, the beggar insists on looking in his little Bible for that verse that keeps bugging him. He’s trying to remember whether it came from Deuteronomy or Leviticus. As it turns out, it is taken from Leviticus but, in the end, this doesn’t make an ounce of difference. Nobody is interested in the initial mandate and, at the same time, they have also stopped noticing the explosions. Nobody is even questioning whether they should be there. It’s an intriguing reflection on the indifference in society today.
Written and Directed by: Charlie Thurston
Produced by: PigPen Productions
Deuteronomy plays at EdFringe 2023 until 19 August, 9:25pm at Zoo Southside. Further information and bookings here.
