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Club Life is like nothing you may have witnessed before. A show in which staying in your seat is fine, but getting up and joining the dance takes it to a whole different level. Summary
Rating
Unmissable!
Fred Deakin has quite the story to tell when it comes to running nightclubs. The sensible option would surely have been to write his autobiography, but as he proves with some of the tales he shares, he has never been one to opt for the sensible, or easy, option. So instead, his story is transformed into one of the most unique shows I’ve ever had the joy of reviewing.
It all starts rather lowkey. Deakin bounds onto the stage to start telling us about his life, and how he came to DJ’ing. It’s very much a Ted Talk as we hear of the awkward teen struggling to find his place in the world, asking “Who am I” and “Who is my tribe”? Deakin’s delivery is always playful, with almost a childlike joy as he shares with us. He tells of the successful clubs and their crazy antics, but also the occasional mishaps, as well as when it almost all came to an early end for him.
But it doesn’t take long before things get wild. Because his story is told via the clubs he has run, with each chapter punctuated by bouts of joyous dancing. The mostly silent cast take to the stage to act out Deakin’s words, but as he finishes talking and steps behind his decks, he takes us into the music of each club. And as the volume increases and the lights go down, the cast take up the dance. But they aren’t simply acting out the moment, they are dynamic in encouraging the audience to join them. Not just dancing in our seats, but down on the stage with everyone else just losing ourselves in the moment. It’s a freeing and beautiful experience, and one that will remind you just why music is such a powerful experience made more amazing by sharing it with others in such a carefree way.
Sita Pieraccini’s directing at first feels a very light touch, but it’s clearly much more than that. She finds a way to bring the club scenes to life in a way that feels totally authentic and unplanned, never forced. Because anything else would be wrong when the whole point is to give us a feel for the moment, one where we are free to be whoever we wish to be, to just lose ourselves in the moment and in the music. You just cannot script such moments.
Unsurprisingly, for a show about 80s and 90s clubbing, fashion play a prominent part. Laura Lees’ designs are full of colour and flair, at times reminding us about some of the more questionable decisions of the era! Cameron Gleave aids the visual effort with great use of the large screen stretching across the length of the stage. Deakin uses it to show photos from his life, but it truly comes into its own when the club scenes explode around us. It’s put to further inventive use late on to decide on the final choices of music as the audience once more invade the stage to share in the moment.
Ultimately Club Life demonstrates why Deakin tells his story on stage and not in a book. Because the pure unadulterated joy of it all just can’t be replicated on a page. It needs the stage and the live experience to bring his story to life and remind us why dancing like no one is watching is a pleasure we should have more often in our lives. It’s clear Deakin now knows who he is, and he knows his tribe are right there on the stage with him.
Cast: Abbi Kane, Ben Standish, Camila Lopez, Lily Carmen Smith, Price Jones, Michael Barker
Written by: Fred Deakin
Directed by: Sita Pieraccini
Visuals by: Cameron Gleave
Stylist by: Laura Lees
Produced by: Davie Miller
Club Life plays at Omnibus Theatre until 24 November. Further information and tickets available here.
