New company Workhouse Productions recently brought their first production to the Etcetera Theatre. Wasted, written by Kae Tempest is about Ted (Freddie Farrell), Danny (Eman Dare), and Charlotte (Caitlin Florence-Rose), who “seize control” during a day in South London.
In Tempest’s rapid-fire style – they are best known as a performance poet and you can see this in the way Wasted has been written and staged – the play unfolds over a tight 75-minute runtime. Director Emily Rodrigues sets it in a space (designed by Anna Cecilia) that feels very urban, whether it is within a domestic setting or out in the local raves and parks.
With adult themes, strong language, and simulated drug and alcohol use, Wasted is very direct about life in your mid-twenties when everything seems to be within reach and you seem invincible. When the three are not channelling their thoughts into hand-held microphones as a ‘chorus’, they are talking to the audience in a moment of self-reflection.
Tempest was born in Brockley and clearly knows this area of London well. The play is now fourteen years old, so obviously some elements will feel more historic than relevant to today’s Gen Z people. The three friends are tied together by the death of their schoolfriend Tony some years before.
Farrell’s Ted is an office worker, restless, caring, but cynical about it. He knows he is trapped but can’t articulate why. Florence-Rose’s Charlotte entered the teaching profession hoping to make a difference, but was quickly disillusioned. She carries a sadness within her with every step. And Dare’s Danny, a musician hoping that his band will make good, oozes with optimism on the surface. The three are clearly close-knit, and in the ‘chorus’ sections they often speak in a rhythm or repeat ideas and lines.
This isn’t an easy play. It has elements we might recognise from Trainspotting or similar plays that zoom in on the lives of a group of friends. Scenes change with the help of projections (by Leila Ufer), and sound design (by Ryan Nicholas and Oscar Mangini) offers a portrait of South London which leaves the friends nowhere to hide.
The direction is very in-your-face, making the small space very claustrophobic yet emphasising the interior conflicts within each of the characters. When they are wasted, off their faces on drugs and booze, they are at their most free and unburdened. Wasted is an example of a gig theatre piece in its structure – alternating between the five ‘choruses’ and the dialogue-heavy scenes at its heart.
This production chooses not to present the character of the deceased Tony as a physical presence, but he is in every beat of the play in memories. Years may have passed, but in a way, the dead friend holds them back from progressing into the next stage of their life. The title emphasises this with Wasted standing for both the opportunities the trio has squandered and the time they spend under the influence of addictive substances.
Technically accomplished and impeccably acted, this revival of Wasted takes a close look at what happens when you let yourself stand still, when you can’t go back and do the things you could have done. It recognises life moves swiftly, and that you don’t always have the luxury of time to spare and spend thinking about what might have been.
I’m giving this 4*.
Wasted was at the Etcetera Theatre on 19-20 Sep.
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I reviewed this production from a video recording.
Photo credit: Paul Farrell