Finn and Jade are househunting, but what they have been brought to view isn’t quite what they anticipated in I’d Kill For This Place.
With a sofa, mould, and no water supply, it isn’t quite what the young pair expected, and when their friends Riley and Meg turn up they are suitably unimpressed.
That’s not the whole story, though, in Laura Berni’s dark comedy. Meg has spent the summer dealing with a significant change in her life, and when she turns up with a cool box secrets begin to tumble out.
Eleanor Kumar directs this claustrophobic, unusual and often gross piece of theatre, in which the four friends have to deal with a permanent and disquieting change in their fortunes.
Rihanna Jarrett plays the hollow-eyed and pragmatic Meg with utter seriousness, which makes her plight uncomfortably amusing.
Amethyst Stafford-Wells is Jade, who is all about chakras, cleansing, and astrology. Lauren Summers is Riley, casual and fluid, and perhaps the most cynical of the four.
Meanwhile, Nat Easton’s Finn worries about the ramifications of living with someone whose bloodlust might extend to a bit more housemate intimacy than is usually acceptable.
These characters are all absolutely believable while heading into the territory of the bizarre. When the mysterious sticky substance on the wall isn’t the main topic of conversation, it heads into the advantages of Meg’s transformation and how this can be something much more than ‘friends with benefits’.
The physical comedy is often shocking and unpredictable, while the idea of a group of friends being so laid back they would actually welcome a creature of the night into their home is utterly preposterous.
That I’d Kill For This Place works so well is down to the writing and the commitment of the company to the show. There are no weak links, pacing issues, or moments that don’t gel.
We don’t really get a sense of place or time other than the fact these four people are Gen Z and Millennials. Known to be woke, broke, and rather interested in the occult and mythology.
Meg’s revelation that over one night’s blackout, she suddenly became a vampire with a thirst for the taste and smell of blood, is surprisingly well-received. Perhaps her housemates revelled in the cachet of having their very own bloodsucker.
I’m giving this 4.5″.
I’d Kill For This Place is at Camden Fringe until 25 Aug (1pm performance).
I saw it , it was Shockingly funny !