The Upcoming
  • Culture
    • Art
    • Cinema & Tv
      • Movie reviews
      • Film festivals
      • Shows
    • Food & Drinks
      • News & Features
      • Restaurant & bar reviews
      • Interviews & Recipes
    • Literature
    • Music
      • Live music
    • Theatre
  • Fashion & Lifestyle
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
  • What’s On
    • Art exhibitions
    • Theatre shows
  • Tickets
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Interviews
  • Competitions
  • Special events
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

CultureTheatre

Killing Time at Park Theatre

Killing Time at Park Theatre | Theatre review
9 February 2017
Alexander Bawden
Avatar
Alexander Bawden
9 February 2017

Killing Time focuses on moribund retired cellist Hester and her well-meaning carer, Sara, who foils her plans for a graceful final curtain. It’s an intimate look at mortality, the right to die, and the way we treat the terminally ill, analysed through the lens of deliciously black humour.

A fun and irreverent romp, there’s a witty heartwarming quality to the show that keeps the audience on its toes, despite the rather dreary subject matter. The actors are on top form, delivering hilarious feminist quips with a believability and intimacy that’s relatively rare in theatre-based comedy. This excellent chemistry may be attributed to the fact that Hester and Sara are real-life mother and daughter Brigit Forsyth and Zoe Mills. A veritable powerhouse of talent, Forsyth is an acting veteran, starring in the BBC’s Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?. Though Mills is decidedly greener, she proves her prodigious ability in her debut full-length play, in which she also stars.

The script and characterisation are phenomenal; Killing Time has the cheeky feel of Calendar Girls, with a slightly darker twist, and there are plenty of belly laugh moments. This is offset beautifully with live music and a sensitive take on issues it’s easy to overdramatise; Adam Eden’s masterful direction is barely visible here, a testament to the skill of the whole team.

The sense of rawness continues into the set, appropriately simple and bleak, with subtle touches like the carpeting and wine bottles adding nuance. Similarly, the cardboard panels contribute to the feeling of impermanence and vulnerability that permeates the performance. However, this is let down by the revolving stage, which showcases different angles of the sparse pieces of furniture, but does little to add to the story. Instead, it feels like a gimmick that’s not been fully taken advantage of; changes in settings from lounge to prison cell are not brilliantly clear, and loud, distracting soundscapes take viewers out of the moment. The same can be said of the use of projection, which feels slightly clunky, but ultimately becomes a cathartic device that allows us to hold onto memories of those we’ve lost.

Born from Mills’s collection of those half-formed drunken ideas we all have about life and death, Killing Time addresses the questions we’re often too scared to think of. The gallows humour helps steer the theatre-goers away from a full-on existential crisis, but this tribute to mortality remains poignant.

★★★★★

Alexander Bawden
Photo: Darren Bell

Killing Time is at Park Theatre from 7th February until 4th March 2017, for further information or to book visit here.

Watch the trailer for Killing Time here:

Please accept YouTube cookies to play this video. By accepting you will be accessing content from YouTube, a service provided by an external third party.

YouTube privacy policy

If you accept this notice, your choice will be saved and the page will refresh.

Related Itemsreview

More in Theatre

Typical at Soho Theatre

★★★★★
Ella Satin
Read More

Grimm Tales for Fragile Times and Broken People

★★★★★
Emma-Jane Betts
Read More

Gatsby at Cadogan Hall: An interview with Jodie Steele and Ross William Wild

Michael Higgs
Read More

Living Record Festival: Ain’t No Female Romeo

★★★★★
Brooke Snowe
Read More

West End Musical Drive In Online

★★★★★
James Humphrey
Read More

Hymn at the Almeida Theatre Online

★★★★★
Michael Higgs
Read More

Songs for a New World

★★★★★
Sophia Moss
Read More

Night Tree at Pavilion Dance South West Online

★★★★★
Alexandra Fletcher
Read More

The Color Purple – At Home at Curve Theatre Online

★★★★★
Emma-Jane Betts
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap

Theatre review

Alexander Bawden

Killing Time

★★★★★

Dates

7th February - 4th March 2017

Price

£14.50-£16.50

Links & directions

TwitterFacebookWebsiteMap

  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • Smith & Burrows – Only Smith & Burrows Is Good Enough
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Creation Stories
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • Detroit Stories – Alice Cooper
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Gatsby at Cadogan Hall: An interview with Jodie Steele and Ross William Wild
    Theatre
  • Wrong Turn
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • My Wonderful Wanda
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • Foster Boy
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Your Honor
    ★★★★★
    other
  • Maximo Park – Nature Always Wins
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • The most important inventions of the 21st century
    Tech & Sport
  • My Favourite War
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • Typical at Soho Theatre
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Detroit Stories – Alice Cooper
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Minari
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • West End Musical Drive In Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

The Boys in the Band at the Vaudeville Theatre | Theatre review
This Must Be the Place at Vault Festival | Theatre review