Venue 20: Assembly Rooms – Front Room
A wonderfully chaotic story of a man with ADHD, a disastrous love life and a lactose intolerance.summary
Rating
Good
Three round blocks resembling gigantic fruit mentos are on stage. Pillock (Jordan Tweddle) sits on the largest and with tears streaming down his face, launches into a monologue about receiving devastating medical test results. He carefully reels his audience in with a convincing performance before snapping out of it, reassuring us itās just a scene for an audition.Ā
The rest of the show features similar moments of Pillock quickly shifting between different scenes and emotions. This rapidity resembles the ADHD brain, with new ideas constantly flying around. The overwhelming feeling of having a long list of incomplete tasks and forgetfulness, particularly when it comes to misplacing house keys, is relatable.
Tweddle word vomits through knotty lines, different characters and painful situations. The show follows Pillockās disastrous dating life, and he soon meets a mysterious American named Eugene. Yet Eugene is unable to be physically intimate with Pillock as he hasnāt yet processed the death of his husband. At first, we sympathise with him but soon discover his disturbing behaviour.Ā
The script (written by Tweddle) repeats phrases, but each time the lines are spoken, they hold a different meaning. This repetition cleverly ties the plot together but the conclusion is unsatisfying. There are some hilarious one-liners thrown in, but others just donāt land.Ā
With a sharp, fast pace and constant high emotion, Tweddle impressively maintains full intensity throughout, even though it must be exhausting. His performance is both memorable and powerful. Ā
Written and Performed by: Jordan TweddleĀ
Directed by: Scott Le Crass
Movement Direction by: Kieran Sheehan
Sound Designed by: Pierre Flasse
Pillock runs at the Assembly Rooms – Front Room until 25th August. Further information and tickets can be found here.
