Review: Baggage Reclaim, The Bull Wanstead

Wanstead Fringe

Sandra (Olivia Hespe) and Gerri (Rebecca Millar) are content in their basement baggage reclaim jobs. It’s not where they’d planned to end up—they had hopes, dreams, aspirations—but they don’t mind it too much. They try to make the best of it.

CJ (Elissa Nicholson), the latest to join the team, is far less enthusiastic. We meet her as she’s about to start her first day; surly and uninterested, her disdain for her colleagues and their collective responsibilities is tangible. As Sandra and Gerri try to get her a little more engaged with the role, bringing her into their traditions and ways of getting through the days, they expose themselves to accusations of bullying, unprofessionalism and even law-breaking.

In an attempt to make the days a little more interesting, and imbue things with a “sense of wonder”, as Gerri puts it, the two long-suffering employees have been playing a little game. They have a rootle through the lost suitcases and make up a story based on what they find. A man rushing home after a torrid affair, racked with guilt, a writer crushed by endless rejections; every bag has its story. Or, as Sandra says with awe as she stares at the next round’s subject, “there’s a whole person in [every] bag”.

The play jumps between the events themselves and the employees’ interviews with their faceless supervisor, whose voice booms out over loudspeaker, interrogating them on exactly what’s gone on…and how they seem to have recklessly broken GDPR rules. Along the way, Baggage Reclaim touches on questions of whether it’s possible to change a system from the inside, how individuality and passion can be detrimental to a career and, something everyone who’s ever had their bags go missing has surely asked, just how nosy are the baggage handlers?

Unfortunately, although there are interesting ideas at play, from about halfway through the 50-minute runtime Baggage Reclaim loses its way. The stakes just aren’t high enough to sustain the weight that the trio demands of them, and as a result the second half feels over-the-top and melodramatic. If the play stuck to one track—leaning into the comedy, or focusing on how people can get lost in the systems they work in, or ideas of privacy—then perhaps the shift in tone would work better, but as it stands the story doesn’t feel deserving of the gravity it’s given.

It’s a shame, because there’s a lot to commend here. Comic beats are hit, there’s a Chekov’s bag situation that plays out nicely and the dynamic between the two long-standing employees feels genuine. On the acting side, Hespe delivers a standout performance as Sandra. The character feels lived-in, you can imagine bumping into her in the checkout queue at Tesco, and her delivery of throwaway lines (“a silent retreat? What if I need to sneeze?”) are excellent.

The simplicity of the set doesn’t diminish its efficiency, and the use of torches as spotlights is a canny idea to make use of the space and resources on hand. It’s clear that a lot of thought has been put into the staging here, from the colourfully decorated gate where Sandra displays photos of her favourite suitcases, to the array of bags the group has gathered, to the contents of the bags they handle.

However, the frequent use of flashing lights to demonstrate, presumably, the chaotic nature of the situation and the distress of the characters, is distracting and needlessly unnerving. A similar approach is taken with the sound, the voice of the invisible HR interviewer glitching as though it’s a technology-driven thriller. It’s an unnecessarily dramatic detail for a human-focused piece; as with the script, the production feels overwrought during the second half.

Although it needs some tightening up, a clearer focus and a more grounded second half, Baggage Reclaim has strong moments and interesting ideas. Oida! Theatre is one to keep an eye on in the fringe circuit.

Cast: Oliva Hespe, Rebecca Millar, Elissa Nicholson

Made with the support of ARTS31 and the Gulbenkian Arts Centre

Baggage Claim has finished its run at The Bull Wanstead, part of the Wanstead Fringe. Further information about Oida! Theatre can be found here.