Review: All That’s Left is Right, Etcetera Theatre

In alternative present where right-handers are the norm, lefties are seen as “a dent in an otherwise perfect canvas”. Left-handers are social pariahs, deviants who need to be eradicated.

Corporate drones Barry (Beren Rojin), Wally (Katie Rush) and Matty (Amina Zebiri-Hefferman) are gathered by the Fairy Right Mother (Owen C Marshall) to witness the execution of the last leftie in the country: “The war on sin is finally over.” Snippets of music ranging from Ghostbusters to Carmina Burana punctuate the action, as the three drones prepare for the big day.

The left-hander in question, named only as Leftie (Victoria Penn), emerges from a box labelled Caged Human Being – “Don’t touch it, it might have rabies,” one character warns. She is forced into a Confession Box, where she relates a trumped-up account of her life, brought to life as it is enacted by the drones. “We as a society avoid any issue that isn’t inconveniencing our own personal privilege,” she says in an unguarded moment.

As political allegories go, All That’s Left is Right never strays into subtlety. The enthusiastic cast give it all they’ve got, with energetic performances that include physical theatre and dance; but Tyler Beckles’ script is a one-dimensional look at social exclusion that’s devoid of subtext and nuance.

Billed as an hour long, the show struggles to fill thirty minutes – a lengthy dance routine with the Fairy Right Mother miming to a recording of Mack the Knife feels like out-of-context filler, whose only tenuous link to the storyline is that the execution is about to take place.

This is half an idea. It could have been a good idea, but not with this treatment.

Written, directed and produced by Tyler Beckles

All That’s Left is Right plays at the Etcetera Theatre until Friday 12 June