The title, 'For The Grace Of You Go I', is of course a twist on a time-served saying and the play itself gave a fresh and contemporary take on a number of well-known influences. The central story concerns life imitating art as Jim, a depressed pizza production worker, is inspired by an old Finnish movie in which the hiring of a hitman is employed as a means of suicide. There was more than a nod to ‘The French Lieutenant’s Woman’, with key aspects of the movie progressively recreated in Jim’s life raising the constant question as to whether Jim would imitate the film to its ultimate conclusion.
Stylistically, the play opened in an almost Brechtian manner as the fourth wall was instantly broken with the announcement that a film was about to be made, with the impresario/director enthusiastically played by Rhodri Meilir even apologising to the audience for the sparseness of the set (which was actually quite arty, being composed of three primary colours). From this jovial and friendly entrance, the three members of the cast then went into character. Meilir made a convincing transition into a pizza worker who had come to find life meaningless and hopeless with Darren Jeffries giving strong support as his cocky mate, Mark. Remy Beasley made a good completion of the trio as confident co-worker Irina.
'For The Grace Of You Go I' is essentially a black comedy looking at the very real issue of mental illness and depression which so many sufferers bottle up and hide. An early joke obliquely comparing Boris Johnson to Adolf Hitler gave some trepidation that the play might just be another vehicle for Woke politics but this was happily not the case as the story focussed purely on the three characters. The interactions had both drama and comedy although a lot of the humour had a very poignant feel. For example, what might be more natural for a depressed pizza maker to send out cries for help than by writing brief, angst-filled messages on pizzas using mozzarella?
Technically, there was a very ambitious and original use of multi-media. A rail-mounted camera running the full width of the stage created the concept of filming, but the backdrop included several screens of varying sizes as well as projections onto the back bright-coloured screens, suggesting at times the whole ‘film’ was being filmed on ‘green screen’. This enabled mirror images to be created of scenes from the movie ‘I Hired A Contract Killer’, with scenes from our story unfolding on stage, sometimes with the theatre cast and film actors even speaking the same dialogue simultaneously. Another effective touch was that of the central figure of Jim viewed on stage with a large-scale close-up of his face projected onto the back screen, emphasising his inner anguish.
'For The Grace Of You Go I' was a powerful production with some unexpected twists at the end and managed to give an air of hope whilst at the same time depicting how some people end up completely going under by secreting their inner mental conflicts. Well-acted with a pacey story and many interesting and original features, this is a play well worth seeing, providing comedy and spectacle whilst leaving lingering thoughts on the inner turmoils of those around us and perhaps even ourselves. Very much a play for today handling an important issue in a realistic and sensitive manner.
Reviewer - John Waterhouse
on - 18.6.21
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