Review: Dying To Meet You, The Courtyard Theatre

There are a few understandable reasons someone might have for being late for dinner: they might be held up at work or delayed by transport. Being temporarily dead is a far less common reason for most people, but is such a regular occurrence in Dying To Meet You that it proves no cause to change the evening meal schedule.

The spirited Leta (Sarah Chamberlain) lies dead in a taped-off crime scene, her corpse being examined by police. Her partner, the charming Tess (Agnieszka Wieclawska), reassures us that this is no cause for alarm: she will just go home and cook dinner whilst waiting for Leta to break out of the morgue again. 

Although the temporary deaths have become normalised, being constantly pursued by unknown agents is becoming a bit tiresome. To try and understand how it all started, the pair reflect on their half-remembered pasts. Throughout the recreations, they are helped or hindered by a range of eccentric and engaging characters, energetically brought to life by Hannah Wyman, Maeve Elmore and Olivia von Opel. However, there is another layer the pair are unaware of: detectives and agents are not the only ones watching them.

As writer, Wieclawska immediately establishes the playful and comedic tone of the story. Watching Tess dance around cooking whilst Leta limbos underneath a security laser showcases how these repeated deaths will be an entertaining adventure rather than a topic for sombre discourse. The frequent direct engagement with the audience helps to both draw us into the emerging mystery and invest us in the central relationship between the couple, whilst also cleverly setting up a turn of events. Although the many side characters come and go in rapid succession, they too are given distinct personalities and unique charms.

This is a fast-paced story, so director Keller O’Malley makes full use of the available space both on and off the stage in the Studio at the Courtyard Theatre. Two scenes in different locations often play at once on either side of the stage, with the cast members in each alternating between freezing in place and progressing their storyline. At other times, the action continues to take place down the aisle whilst the stage is prepared with new props. The narrative structure of Leta and Tess examining their memories allows for creative visual jokes, with the pair rewinding and replaying scenes, setting them in slow motion, or pausing and repositioning the supporting cast.

With such a rapid turnover between locations (hotels, morgues, airports and others), producers Anne Boulton, Chamberlain and Wieclawska inventively use select props and minimal furniture to bring them to life. In other cases, the ensemble describes settings and views or uses mime to enact the more extreme aspects of their adventures. Music and sound effects further enhance the ambience of the locations and atmosphere of the scenes. The costumes subtly convey the connection between the two leads, with Chamberlain and Wieclawska both wearing cream trousers and black tops. This colour scheme is inverted for the supporting cast, with Elmore, von Opel and Wyman wearing black trousers and white shirts, in addition to the variety of jackets, hats and props they deploy to swiftly switch between characters.

The cast are full of life as they present this compelling mystery, and the entertaining and heightened exploits are well balanced with contemplative characters.

Written by Agnieszka Wieclawska
Directed by Keller O’Malley
Co-Produced by Anne Boulton, Sarah Chamberlain, and Agnieszka Wieclawska

Dying to Meet You plays at the Courtyard Theatre until Sunday 23 August as part of the Camden Fringe Festival.