Paul T Davies reviews Kae Tempest’s play Wasted at The Wardrobe Theatre Bristol.
Wasted.
The Wardrobe Theatre, Bristol.
3 June 2023
4 Stars
Presented as part of a season by graduating students from the MA Drama Directing course at Bristol Old Vic, Kae Tempest’s poetic, hard-hitting play about lost youths has, if anything, gained deeper poignancy since its debut in 2012. Now, with the rental system and cost of living crisis, the yearning to be carefree takes on a stronger poignancy as Ted, Charlotte and Danny negotiate post-rave life. Wasted not just in terms of drugs, alcohol and raving, but wasted opportunities and life. While the original production used handheld microphones and had a more spoken word feel, Richard Bland’s masterly direction eschews that approach, and beautifully brings out the narrative, the feelings for Charlotte by Danny moving more central stage, and Ted’s yearning to keep the friendship together gains more urgency. It reveals the play in a new light, (one that isn’t just strobe during a rave) and is all the stronger for it. The trio mourn the ten-year anniversary of their mate Tony’s death, envying his carefree adolescence before he took on the chains of adulthood.
As Ted, Dudley O’Shaughnessy gives an excellent performance of a young man in his 20s, terrified that he is wasting his life in a secure, but unfulfilling accountancy job and a stable relationship. With perfect comic timing, he gradually realises that raving will now always lose out to a visit to IKEA, and his mourning for his lost friend is genuine and moving, he is the glue holding the three together. Danny is yet to grow up, still in a failed band and hitting drugs regularly, and Francis Redfurn gives an on-point performance as a young man who refuses to let go of his hedonistic past, gurning and twitching through the 48 hours we spend with his character. Holly Hawgood also captures this element in her performance as Charlotte, wanting to walk away from her teaching job, yet failing to take that leap. Whilst the naturalistic elements were convincing, in the choral sections her timing seemed ever so slightly off, coming in a beat or two behind her fellow performers, but this is a minor quibble.
Tony’s memorial tree is brilliantly realised by designer Rhiannon Binnington, created from wires and fibres, expertly urban, with speakers providing seats, tables, containing props hidden sway to ensure a smooth pace to the play- in fact the pace is strong, the director allowing space for the play to breathe, to take moments of reflection. The Wardrobe Theatre itself is an excellent fringe venue, and it was good to catch work that is part of a thriving theatre scene in Bristol, and one well worth checking out.
