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Camden Fringe
A beautiful and heartfelt lament for those who aren’t quite equipped for what we might call a ‘normal’ life, told from the viewpoint of a sister watching her brother’s struggles. Summary
Rating
Excellent
If a show can make you laugh one minute and wipe a tear from your eye the next, you know it’s doing something right. When it leaves you yearning to call friends and family just to hear their voice, well, it’s done something extremely right!
We Can Be Heroes is one of those shows. Anna Krauze’s play about a brother coping with depression and anxieties is a remarkable and moving piece of theatre. It’s a show that feels perfectly at home in the black box of the Lion and Unicorn Theatre, a place that makes a habit of tackling such subjects with the care and attention they desperately need.
It takes a moment to get used to the play’s style, the story told partly in first person narration from Krauze, then in more conventional acting as she takes on both the role of Peanut, narrator of her brother’s story, as well as the characters he meets in his curtailed life. As she drifts between the three, it can momentarily leave you wondering where the real person ends, and her character Peanuts begins. But this may well be Krauze’s intention; to blur the lines between what is her story and what is fiction. But once the style is set, it becomes perfectly natural. She flicks from one persona to another, the flow impeccable under Coral Tarran’s smooth and gentle direction.
Peanut and her brother are close, a fact cleverly demonstrated as they share private moments together, one minute playing ball, the next deep in discussion as to where they would want their ashes scattered. But her brother is also full of crippling anxieties, scared of everything, including rain and thunderstorms, leading to some great choices of music to back up scenes. Peanut is the opposite and heads out into the world for new adventures, leaving him behind, yet never far from her thoughts – although admitting to be thinking of your brother during sex certainly gets the expected reaction from the audience before she clarifies not in THAT way! Rather, she confesses her guilt at being happy when he is not.
James Georgiou as the brother delivers an incredible performance, avoiding the potential cringe that can so easily happen when adults try to play children. He inhabits the role and shows his vulnerabilities, never dumbing it down, yet leaving us in no doubt this is a boy in turmoil. Together with Krauze, there’s a strong feel of connection, that they really are brother and sister sharing those little moments of togetherness. Krauze herself steps from narrator to performer with ease, marvellously taking on roles of the doctor, sex worker and nun, all of whom reminisce about “the boy with the sad eyes”. It lovingly shows that even though we may be scared of life we still leave an imprint upon it, even if we may not recognise it at times. He’s a superhero in his own small way.
Ultimately, though, it is Krauze’s writing that is the true star. She allows us into her beautiful world with open arms, making us laugh, then cry. Depression and anxieties really are a killer, and whilst this show may not have the happy ending we crave, it still leaves us with hope that even those of us who may be struggling at times can find a light. It is a show that says it’s OK to be scared, OK to be different. The brother may not have come through this story, but it is a tale that will give hope to others grappling with the same difficulties and perhaps help them reach out to make a connection that could make all the difference.
Written by: Anna Krauze
Directed by: Coral Tanner
Produced by: Passing Stranger Theatre Company
We Can Be Heroes played at Lion and Unicorn Theatre for Camden Fringe.
Find out more about the show in our recent interview with Anna Krauze here.
