Review: Deadline
The Let Go Theatre Co
Greenside @ Infirmary Street until August 27th
[usr 3]
Deadline is a microcosm of this millennium’s university graduates, who place importance on their social network and seem to move towards inevitable self-destruction amidst a devastated economy and saturated globe. A new play by Olivia Knowles and Pierce Reid, who take the stage as Charlotte and Stuart respectively in this two-hander, Deadline hovers on the edge of being an exceptional piece of theatre.
The plot is best explained when one watches the show, not because it is complicated, but because the script often dives into exposition overload that spoon-feeds the audience rather than drive the action of the piece. The story is highly intriguing, but the actors rush through their lines, barely stopping for breath, and lack any vocal dynamism except for volume. At the same time, there are moments of genuine playfulness between Knowles and Reid, who evidently have strong onstage chemistry.
In exploring this issue within the claustrophobic limitations of a messy apartment, Deadline touches a raw nerve in the audience, keeping them engaged for the entire play. There is no answer to the big questions posed, but there is a stash of cocaine to snort these problems away.
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