Review: 50 Ways To Kill A Slug, Soho Theatre

This is the most difficult review I’ve ever had to write, but that has nothing to do with the content of the show or the two performers (Dre Spisto and Joana Nastari) who created it. The problem is that it suffers from a case of terrible staging. I couldn’t see a good sixty per cent of the show as the two characters spent so much time either writhing around or performing dull tasks on the floor, and due to the way the seating at the Soho Theatre Upstairs Studio is set up, I was often unable to see anything.

This became even more frustrating as it’s a non-verbal clowning show, and there was no dialogue on hand to explain what I was missing. It was such a bizarre experience that I did consider not reviewing the play at all, but I feel it’s an issue which really needs to be addressed as quickly as possible, as they’re taking the show on tour right now. Of course, other venues may have more conventional seating and a stage so that everyone can see what takes place, but if not and you’re unable to get a front row seat, you might be sorely disappointed.

Based on the parts that I did manage to witness, as for about a third of the show, the performers are positioned towards the back of the stage, the show is very well constructed and acted out. But right now it needs a lot of tightening up as it’s frustratingly self-indulgent. While the notes on the website describe it as an exploration of slowness which also functions as a queer love story, what they have to say about both themes seems vague at best.

The sequence at the start is a prime example of exploring slowness, as the duo take an age to slowly shuffle into the room as they lie on their backs and only move a couple of centimetres every fifteen to twenty seconds. It takes about three minutes before they’re even on the stage, and what the takeaway from this is I just couldn’t say. There’s also a part where they spend a good five minutes playing with a slimy substance on the floor before getting up and rubbing the hands of members of the audience with it, which, while initially bemusing, once again feels inexplicable.

There were at least some moments which showed a great deal of promise. In one scene, the slugs take a very long time to eat some flowers, but once they do, the sound of a lawnmower increases, and the duo perform the death of the characters in a way that is laugh-out-loud funny. There’s also a karaoke section where they change the words to songs, so ‘I’m Every Woman’ becomes ‘I’m Every Slug’, and ABBA’s ‘Money, Money, Money’ is altered to ‘Sluggy, Sluggy, Sluggy’. Additionally, there’s a sequence mocking the mundanity of office life that leads to a wrestling match where suddenly these slugs are far more sprightly.

It’s a show I wanted to like, and conceptually it’s a great idea, but I can’t praise it any further due to the simple fact that I could see so little of it. If this is going to have any chance of a successful future, then the staging must be altered, as it really isn’t okay to charge such high ticket prices when, if you can’t get a front row seat, you’ll miss giant chunks of the show.

Written and Performed by: Dre Spisto and Joana Nastari
Produced by: Stef Felton
Set Design by: Malena Arcucci
Costume Design by: lambdog1066

50 Ways To Kill A Slug has ended its run at the Soho Theatre, but will be at the Edinburgh Fringe in August.