Brought to Camden Fringe by Mooski Theatre, this intriguing new play by Lucy Josephine starts with Ava (Anya Hope Birch), a young woman seemingly settled in life, being visited by Death (Charisse Allen-Filo, in the mortal form of another young woman, albeit one with scythe) and informed that she is about to die of a brain aneurysm.
Startled, as you might expect, she negotiates just a few weeks more to tick off some things on her bucket list and tie up some loose ends in her life, notably her relationship with her friend, Tom (Matthew McGoldrick). Teach Me About Dying explores what might happen if this situation were a reality, and what might prove to be the most important thing left to do.
Directed by Henry Roberts and Lucy Josephine, this is an upbeat play despite its gloomy topic. Although Ava initially plans to tick off the all the things she hasn’t done, times continues to tick by with her and Death chatting, playing games, and becoming far more invested into each other.
Death starts off as being a bit detached from mere mortals, clearly regarding herself as a cut above, the one who holds all the cards and follows all the rules. In allowing Ava extra time she has already trangressed, and beyond her better judgement almost connects with human frailty and friendships.
Where Ava’s friends and family may be, outside of Tom, isn’t clear, and there seems to be no job to miss her heading there each day. It’s a lonely life in a way, but that side of her life isn’t fully developed so we are not quite sure who she is, aside from initially fighting against her fate and then openly looking forward to it.
Tom grows into a character who really has some skin in the game. He notes that those left behind are the real victims of death, but stops short of fully declaring his feelings. Anyone can say they will do anything to save you, but do they only say that when the moment has passed and nothing can be done?
Set in just one room with a desk, soft furnishings, and a blackboard on which Ava’s remaining weeks are counted down, Teach Me About Dying is nicely intimate and realistically bleak. The production makes use now and then of the aisle at the Little Angel Theatre, opening out the space to allow Tom to head back into the space in which Ava and Death are getting ever more acquainted.
“It doesn’t work like that”, is something Death repeats on more than one occasion, once about reuniting with loved ones on the other side, and once about a friendship between her and any mortal. There’s a vein of comedy in her recognition of Taylor Swift and Morrissey while remaining oblivious to the story of Joan of Arc.
This is a well-constructed production that just needs a little bit of focus to emphasise the story, All three performances are good, but McGoldrick doesn’t have that much to do and I wasn’t clear as to the significance of his role.
Josephine clearly has a flair for the dark and absurd, and I’d like to see this expanded a bit more as Teach Me About Dying stops just short of really exploring the premise of when, how, and where we die, and why it happens.
The light touch throughout allows a difficult topic to stick without feeling traumatic, and I feel there is a bit more fluidity to be found to make this play a strong show.
***
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