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Camden Fringe
A fun show, full of lovely little touches, but needs to have a stronger sense of purpose if it wants to deliver something more. Summary
Rating
Good
When Death turns up in Ava’s living room – a rather inappropriate name given the circumstances as Death points out – somehow, Ava negotiates a six-week extension on her life. It’s six weeks to do all the things she may have been putting off until tomorrow, and very soon, she is pulling out the bucket list she wrote as a teen and considering the practicalities of flying off to Australia for a day at the beach.
But Ava somehow spends those last six weeks indoors, playing truth or dare with Death, avoiding phone calls, and absolutely refusing to answer Death’s questions about why she isn’t seeing friends and family, because that’s what most people would surely do in her situation.
There are some lovely touches to the writing within Lucy Josephine’s Teach Me About Dying— little comments about death or the lack of time left for Ava. But whilst the writing is amusing and clever in places, the plot lacks a clear focus. Having teased us with that bucket list, it seems as if the show is going to take us along the lines of “savour every moment you have, it could be your last.” But this goes nowhere. It then throws in the issues of her lack of friends and family she wants to see, so briefly, you wonder if we’re heading down the road of loneliness and human connections. But once more, after that initial teasing nothing comes of it.
What does come through the mass of ideas is one of love: “Everything I do ties back to love,” Death tells Ava, and we do witness a rather strange love triangle between Ava, Death and Tom, her ex who still holds strong feelings for her. And fair enough, there are, again, some nice touches in this, especially with Death’s talk of having to exist for an eternity watching loved ones leave, which has a very interesting Doctor Who parallel thrown in for fans of the show. But it just feels a lost opportunity when so many interesting ideas are touched upon but never allowed time to develop. Ultimately, it leaves the show feeling slightly lost as it tries to find its purpose.
Charisse Allen-Filo‘s Death is nicely sardonic, showing a boredom to begin with before slowly finding an interest in the living, whilst Anya Hope Birch’s Ava is equally as fun to witness, skirting around conversations with Death to avoid any real revelations. But there’s also a frustration here because having been granted these additional six weeks, spending them indoors drinking and playing games feels a failed purpose unless we’re given some reason for it, which draws our thoughts back to that lack of friendships. Another missed opportunity? Matthew McGoldrick’s Tom is perhaps a little too weakly written, meaning that the purposes of his endless voicemail’s left on Ava’s phone never really add much to proceedings, and so, risking his character feeling almost redundant.
Even so, and considering the central premise that Ava only has six weeks left to live, Teach Me About Dying is surprisingly sweet and full of life, never mournful or miserable. There’s enough to make for an enjoyable hour of theatre, and plenty of ideas for Moosk! Theatre to work with in where this show should be taken in any future life.
Written by: Lucy Josephine
Directed by: Henry Roberts and Lucy Josephine
Produced by Anya Hope Birch for Moosk! Theatre
Intimacy coordinated by: Liz K Czibor
Music by: Ed Roberts and Henry Roberts
Teach Me About Dying plays at Little Angel Theatre for Camden Fringe until 24 August. Further information available here.
