'What Remains' is Maniacal Vision’s second contribution to this year’s Greater Manchester Fringe Festival, following their show 'Frog' earlier this month. Written by Beth Hayward, 'What Remains' is set at some point in the future, where global warming means it is a scorching 26 degrees Celsius in February and the overflow of waste in landfills has seen the emergence of repurposed landfill sites run by Regenerate Waste Systems, where volunteers seek out waste which can be recycled (or ‘regenerated’) to help build hospital beds or other items for those on the outside.
The set for the play is a mound of rubbish, slightly reminiscent of Samuel Beckett’s play Breath (one of, if not the, shortest play ever performed) but whereas the rubbish in Beckett’s work was a metaphor for life, in What Remains it symbolises the apogee of human consumption. The play opens with a voice-over from Karolina Pawlowicz, which bemoans the state the human race have left the planet in, blindly assuming the Earth will carry on sustaining our lives. This pessimistic view is swiftly countered by Gen (Ryan Watson) the founder and public face of Regenerate Waste Systems who appears in filmed inserts throughout the play. Gen’s statements establish that Regenerate is working towards reducing the overflowing waste by reclaiming and regenerating rubbish which can be reused and repurposed. Following the first of these ‘public service announcements,’ the action begins onstage with A (Hayward), and C (Josh Vince) walking onto the rubbish mound and listening to a very loud (presumably deliberately so) announcement congratulating the ‘cells’ on the Regenerate site who had achieved or exceeded their targets the previous day. Following the announcement, it soon becomes clear that A and C have a somewhat fractious relationship with one another, one which isn’t helped by a new arrival (Callum Ansley), swiftly dubbed B by C as “there are no names here.” Whereas C is cynical, sarcastic, and prone to passive-aggressive outbursts, B is young, somewhat naïve, and keen to use his volunteering to prove that he can be grown-up. A, meanwhile, knows the system and rules at the site like the back of her hand, but is a less-than-willing volunteer, having been brought to the site as part of a judiciary programme.
A explains to B (and the audience) how the programme works: they sift through the landfill rubbish to find waste which can be regenerated which they then feed into tubes which lead to a container which is emptied so the waste can be reused and repurposed. Different types of waste are worth more than others, so there is a bit of a competitive edge to the process. However, B slowly begins to realise that the programme he has volunteered to isn’t as straightforward as it seems – lunch is an energy bar, and A and C become jittery when the Cell Coach (Mike Pope) makes an unexpected visit. The Coach is a fast-talking, corporate statement, suit-wearing middle manager who drops the bombshell that everybody’s regeneration targets are going up. “This place is becoming more like a prison,” B remarks and is outraged at the change in target, seeing his initial volunteering period extending from one month to fourteen. After refusing to go back to his cell dorm in protest at the change in target, he makes a stand by sitting atop the rubbish mound in defiance before vanishing overnight, leaving A and C to try and stop speculating where he might be and concentrate on their work.
Performance wise, the main cast were fine and worked well enough with the material they had been given. However, this was where the play fell short. While the issues which 'What Remains' deal with are very pertinent – especially with the Extinction Rebellion protests and the drive away from single-use plastics – the play itself feels somewhat under-developed. The ending is very abrupt and the hints about the characters backstories could do with being fleshed out more. There does seem to be a Wall-E style commentary going on regarding human consumption, waste, and big business but this could do with being pushed further, and the play would benefit greatly from a more definite ending rather than what we are currently presented with here – the final scene just felt like another scene rather than the end of the play.
'What Remains' is a decent production but one which could benefit from more development and expansion in terms of character and the world the play is set within. With another draft or two of the script, there could be a powerful play about who really benefits from recycling, and those who are left with the rubbish that remains behind.
Reviewer - Andrew Marsden
on - 29/7/19
No comments:
Post a Comment