Dark Sublime at Trafalgar Studios

Lost and forlorn is the Marianne (Marina Sirtis) of today. Having once led the cast of hit cult television show Dark Sublime, the former actress now struggles to make ends meet, both in her professional life as well as her personal one, causing rifts in her relationship with best friend Kate (Jacqueline King) to occur – for whom she harbours secret romantic feelings, albeit unrequited. But when the young and fanatic Oli (Kwaku Mills) shows up at his idol’s house one day to conduct a long-awaited interview, the pair form an inseparable bond, leading Marianne to learn a thing or two about herself that she never knew.

Cosy and functional is the artistic design at Trafalgar Studios for this tender and moving portrait of love, loss and loneliness, serving the multi-faceted purpose of a living room, a pub locality, a film set and a convention centre whereby Oli charmingly presents the upcoming day’s events to an excited crowd of attendees. With elements of sci-fi intercutting, namely clips taken from the very show that Marianne was an integral part of all those years ago, viewers are able to live Oli’s Dark Sublime obsession with him and follow the riches-to-rags story of how a prolific actress – whose career was everything to live for – had suddenly amassed to nothing.  

The production is, above all, a human story. It’s about taking the glitz and glam out of a profession that is at times precarious, and adding a touch of reality to it. Success may have its highs but that also comes with a price – though not always a bad one. The pitfalls in Marianne’s job enable her to appreciate the value of her personal relationships and learn, through people like Oli, that had it not been for the future generations carrying the baton of nostalgia for these once-upon-a-time mega hit shows and their acclaimed stars, they would have sadly gone down as forgotten pieces of history.

Ghazaleh Golpira
Photo: Scott Rylander

Dark Sublime is at Trafalgar Studios from 25^th June until 3^rd August 2019. For further information or to book visit the theatre’s website here.

Read our interview with Dark Sublime director Andrew Keates here.