Hedonism overload: Thomas Pickles in Dead Party Animals. Photo credit: Christopher Tribble
Play: Dead Party Animals
Theatre: The Hope Theatre
Playwright: Thomas Pickles
Director: Adam Spreadbury-Maher
Review by Natalie Gormally
Playwright and actor Thomas Pickles’ hour long monologue, Dead Party Animals, opens with a typical boozy night out in the North of England: sambuca-fuelled teenagers, dressed up girls, boys full of bravado and eager to pull, most of whom end up sick, or in a fight.
Pickles won the first Adrian Pagan Award for new work for theatre professionals who are not playwrights. The Hope Theatre, which opened in November 2013 and is exclusively for new writing, provides the perfect settling for this intimate and surprisingly poetic story.
From the foul-mouthed banter to the detailed picture painted of the groups preparing to party, Pickles’ tightly packed script provides us with some sharp storytelling and vivid descriptions of Britain’s binge drinking youth culture.
On the surface, it all appears to be good fun – growing up slowly, falling in and out of clubs, the yearning for lust and love – until after another chaotic boozy night out, our protagonist reaches his hedonist limit and realises that this lifestyle is neither as pleasurable nor as innocent as he originally believed.
Events become darker, and the nights begin to merge into one as his reality fuses with a nightmarish surrealism. “I check my phone to make sure the rest of the world is still there” is our lead’s mantra as he shifts in and out of the clubbers’ world.
Pickles performs his monologue with raw emotional energy and an intense physicality, switching between protagonist, role play and narrator. His script is full of skilful banter and rich metaphors.
Every scene has been carefully considered and each line falls into the next with a natural rhythm. The only difficulty with this shrewd non-stop piece is that the audience doesn’t have time to fully process all that Pickles has to offer.
Under the fine tuning of director Adam Spreadbury-Maher, Pickles’ performs with no aids, props or set. Seth Rook-Williams’ lighting furthers the intensity of Pickles’ raw performance, while Philip Matejtschuk’s sound takes us into the hedonist world of the young clubbers.
The Hope Theatre’s efforts to support new talent by bringing their work into production is to be admired. Pickles is an extraordinary writer and actor.
Dead Party Animals is a funny, raw and poignant piece of theatre. Worth a visit.
Dead Party Animals is at The Hope Theatre until 24 May 2014.