The collision of opposing worlds features in this arresting one-man play.
On a roll of black shiny lino that slicks from ceiling to floor and beyond sits a solitary chromed corporate chair. On it, dressed in a shiny grey suit with a slightly loosened tie, a trader sits and narrates his tale.
The financial world crashed in 2007 and his personal world crashes soon afterwards. From being a hot shot in the world of finance, this man finds himself facing life anew after a car crash where he was the driver kills his wife, Allison. Overheard jibes from colleagues that he “trades like he drives” add to the anxiety of his particular grief process where he wants solitude in company – not always an easy thing to achieve.
He prematurely meets a new partner, the beautiful Australian Kate, at a meditation class that he attends with all the openness of a clam and quickly starts a new phase of his life. While she is immersed in the spiritual, our man is always looking at other possibilities - never quite able to be lost in the concentration of merely breathing in and out. Their worlds never quite merge and he never quite finds the peace he is supposed to be seeking.
This part of his life that is under the spotlight is narrated with detachment as cold as the chrome on his seat by Jamie Michie as he dips in and out of the past. Michie soundly nails this hard headed survivor who lacks any human empathy as he stumbles through life with his own unspoken mantra of preservation.
The slightly discordant opening sounds that hint at a clash and the finely controlled lighting that takes the text back to a previous time add to the atmosphere of this tautly written solo drama that is laced with wit and psychological observations from the pen of Andy Duffy.
The final horror draws questions about responsibility as this trader finally and ironically realises that he knows nothing.
Age Recommendation
14+
28 Oct 2014 – 01 Nov 2014 (additional 7pm performance on Fri, 31 Oct)
£12 (includes a play, a pie and a pint of beer/125ml glass of house wine/regular glass of Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, lemonade, orange juice, tea or filter coffee)