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

Flotsam at King’s Head Theatre

Flotsam at King’s Head Theatre | Theatre review
10 September 2018
Cristiana Ferrauti
Avatar
Cristiana Ferrauti
10 September 2018

Emerging writer Claire Erasmus offers dramatic food for thought in the one-off show Flotsam, directed by Evy Barry, at the King’s Head Theatre.

The calming lullaby of the tides reaching the shore and the far cry of seagulls resound in the background as a faltering Jo (Jennifer Aries) takes centre stage. She tells fragmented memories of a broken childhood, while a suicidal thought becomes stronger in between sips of alcohol and puffs of a cigarette. The entrance of the apparently radiant Ann (Ciara Pouncett) couldn’t be more timely. After an abrupt start, the two women learn about each other’s backgrounds. With very different attitudes to life, they both have motives to make the last jump and disappear definitively into the sea. But only one of them actually makes that final step.

The profound loneliness of the protagonists is tangible. However, the plain monologues, the straight narrative of the facts – which has the impression of being read from a book – and the absence of a further analysis of the personalities involved, all fail to create empathy with the audience.

The cosy venue of the King’s Head Theatre is the only guarantee for a more personal atmosphere, even with the setting established on a beach.

Nonetheless, the sharing of grief – which has the potential to lift the sufferer and reveal a redemptive story for the listener – provides the powerful message at the heart of the play. The theatre-goers are faced with touching stories that invite us in and attempt to remind us of the importance of being open and reaching out.

The drama of the past and its effects on the women’s present are also at the core of the script. As the whole piece pivots on talks on a bench, the text becomes key. However, the lines do not significantly develop the narratives that cross and intertwine on the stage. Pouncett delivers a very good performance, but apart from her sweetness and an endearing clumsiness, the character remains static. How Ann succeeds in helping Jo out of her depression, where mental health therapies and long-standing friends failed, is difficult to understand.

The characters in Flotsam lack a certain depth which would make the whole production more realistic and less of a stereotyped story of salvation simply determined by good luck.

★★★★★

Cristiana Ferrauti

Flotsam was at King’s Head Theatre on 8th September 2018. For further information or to book visit the theatre’s website here.

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

Cristiana Ferrauti

Flotsam

★★★★★

Dates

From 8th September 2018

Price

£16

Links & directions

TwitterInstagramFacebookWebsiteMap

  • 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

Wajib (Duty) | Movie review
Distance at Park Theatre | Theatre review