Review: People We Bury Alive, EdFringe

If there’s one word to sum up both Anna Krauze’s writing and performance, it would be ‘charming’. Portraying Polish immigrant Lisa in this latest piece, Krauze is never far from making you laugh either through the wide-eyed innocence Lisa displays as her life takes its inevitable twists and turns, or the clever quips and comical situations Krauze keeps lying in wait for our young heroine (including regular dalliances with a sex doll and a few trips to the morgue).

Despite all this levity throughout though, the topic at the heart of this play is a heavy one. It has many names; rejection, ghosting, abandonment. But eschewing all of these, Krauze opts for the original and effective analogy of being buried alive, accompanied onstage by a mound of dirt out of which her ex-boyfriend Adam makes the odd quip as Lisa looks back on her life and considers all those buried alive in their own way.

The themes are strong and the tone is generally fun, but there can at times be a failure to reach a deeper emotional level. Krauze’s writing is intelligent, and the introduction of additional themes such as the guilt of emigration or the five stages of grief add to the depth of the play, but affairs can feel they lack a bit of fire and energy. Crucially, it can be difficult to feel that there’s tension or stakes for much of the narrative as we’re taken comfortably through an even-handed if unusual few years in the life of a young immigrant to the UK.

A little spice is added along the way as Lisa opens up a support forum for others who’ve been buried alive, and their stories are projected onto the back wall as the play goes on in another intelligent choice that introduces a multimedia dimension to the play. However, once again this element can lack a little punch as although the stories often feel quite real and heartfelt they can drag the pacing and feel disconnected from the larger narrative Krauze is weaving. It’s difficult to put one’s finger onto why, but all I can say as an audience member is that they didn’t stick with me nearly as much as Lisa’s fictional journey, despite (or maybe because of) their greater reality.

Overall it’s a charming and clever show that in future iterations could genuinely hit quite hard, but for now lacks that extra punch needed to make it really land.

Written and Performed by: Anna Krauze
Produced by: Passing Stranger Theatre Company

People We Bury Alive has completed its run as part of EdFringe