Review: Talking People, Bush Theatre

Everyone remembers bullying incidents from their secondary school years, but does everyone remember them the same way? The first night of Talking People, a week-long run of themed performances at The Bush Theatre, tackles this very topic. 

Lucy (Giorgia Valentino) arrives early to a school reunion to find the three girls who bullied her from Year 7 to 11 already there. When she starts to bring up the past, their recollections vary, leading to an explosive showdown. However, the whole performance could have been completely different if the cards had been dealt a different way ⎯ literally.

Every performance starts with director Richard Vincent asking an audience member to shuffle a deck of cards. The card he picks then determines the starting point of each character. If they get a high card, life prior to this point has been great. If they get a low card, ouch.

Talking People prides itself on being ‘serious’ improvisation, with Vincent acknowledging this at the start of every show. A lot of improv is designed to be comic, and although there are some funny moments that shine through, this company’s aim is to tackle hard-hitting topics. The story is crafted not just by the actors, but also through audience interaction: for the majority of the first half the floor is open for the audience to ask the actors questions, which they respond to as their characters. But if seeing the words ‘audience interaction’ fills you with dread, you don’t need to worry. Vincent states that the aim is not to humiliate the audience, and you don’t have to join in if you don’t want to.

Vincent starts by questioning Valentino, who is in character as Lucy, the victim. Through a series of escalating questions, he quickly peels away layers of Lucy’s backstory, all improvised by Valentino in the moment. She is then sent away and the three bullies are introduced, going through the same process and being allocated a card to determine their status in the group. Kate Ovenden emerges as Lola, the leader of the pack, with Rosie Dwyer as Sasha, her loyal best friend, and Milly Zero as the third girl in their group, who clearly regrets her actions from all those years ago.

This is where the audience participation comes in. As promised, no one is picked on and the questions emerge naturally from the audience. As the actors answer in character, the story builds and builds. Some questions lead to more information being shared, and some don’t, but this is how Talking People works. Whatever you see on the night is completely shaped by the interaction between the audience, Vincent and the actors. All of the questioning takes place in the first half, a breathless suspension of time in which the audience is completely rapt. In the second half, the lights go down and we see the actors create a scene based on the information that was unveiled during the interview section of the first half. 

At the end, Vincent questions the cast again, and the audience gets some closure on the story. In this particular performance, the worst bully gets what’s coming to her, and that is not a spoiler. Even if the exact same cast performed the exact same premise again, Vincent’s system of improvisation means that no two nights with this company are ever the same.

Directed by Richard Vincent
Produced by Elina Saleh Franck
Associate Producer: Adrian Paul Jeyasingham
Assistant Producer: Lily Af Sandeberg
Created by Elina Saleh Franck and Richard Vincent

Talking People runs at The Bush Theatre until Saturday 19 September.