Review: Big Love, Lion and Unicorn Theatre

Closing out their Here | For season supporting new writing, Proforca Theatre’s Big Love is in many ways just that: a show that is a big, charming love letter to the small things in life, while worrying about what might be coming next. 

For those who know Proforca’s work, in some ways it will come as quite the surprise, a major sidestep from their usual stories about normal people and situations. Not this time, as Big Love isn’t a linear story, it’s not even quite a story, more a continuous stream of thought. Sam (Samuel Warren) speaks directly to the audience, and banters with the sound tech (writer and director David Brady) about whatever he is thinking in that moment.

At the same time, the themes and styles from previous work still shine through. The need for human connection is right there: in many ways the whole show is just one long call to receive, or perhaps to give, a big hug. Stylistic comparison can be drawn to their former solo show Volcano, and there are thematic similarities to the company’s If the Surface Tension Breaks. 

However, it is also a show that stands alone from their other projects. That lack of a linear story means it is down to Warren’s performance to hold it all together and keeps the chaos in check. He rushes around the small podium at the centre of the stage, rolling through thoughts as if they have just come to mind, drawing the audience in with his musings on those simple things that make life so worthwhile. That audience work is remarkably impressive, the ad-libbing spot on as he asks us to be part of this show and makes us feel as if we’re all just friends in the room. 

Writer Brady plays a perfect foil as he sits at the tech deck and gets pulled into the conversation, engaging in banter and encouraging Warren to get back to the script as if he really has gone completely rouge in his thoughts. It creates a joyful, disarming atmosphere that gives the audience plenty to cling to. The technical elements are equally impressive in most places, although the sound does go slightly awry when the volume cranks and perhaps some clarity is lost. 

Brady’s writing always feels personal. Even when creating extreme characters there are familiar traits in them. That need to find connection is one of the most poignant, and makes his work so affecting to people who perhaps have similar feelings. Here it is even more pronounced, more direct. 

It ultimately is a show about holding on to the simple things in life, those small moments and small gestures from those we love and care for which make life so worthwhile. It’s a joyful show that is very different to so much of their previous work, but perhaps just what we need right now. Because don’t we all what someone to give us a big hug now and again?

You can read more about this show in our recent interview with David Brady here.

Written and directed by David Brady
Produced by Proforca Theatre
Associate director: Mark Conway
Intamicy coordinator: Stella Moss
Lighting and sound design by Proforca Theatre

Big Love plays at Lion and Unicorn Theatre until Saturday 7 November.