The Man Who Fell to Pieces - Tinderbox Theatre Company - Theatre review

Oh. My. God. I have just returned from the theatre and I am a hot mess. I don’t think I’ve ever been moved to tears as much as this whilst watching a play.

‘The Man who fell to pieces’ is a play about depression. It is emotional, touching, raw and powerful. Somehow, it also manages to be funny.

We are only ten minutes into the show and already the tears are running down my cheeks. It’s the part when John, who is having difficulties communicating his feelings to his fiancé Caroline, share a tender dance. I can feel the pain between them. The music, beautifully composed by Katie Richardson, adds to the emotion, making the atmosphere in the theatre palpable. I can see several audience members hastily trying to wipe a tear from their eyes.

I meanwhile, am a hot mess. The tears are flowing effortlessly and I’m completely absorbed in this wonderful play.

All four actors are incredible, the music is beautiful and the set is clever. The physical theatre, the dance and the words that this production uses to describe depression are very cleverly put together.

And did I mention the humour? How can the tears be tripping you one minute, and the next you’re laughing out loud.  

One in four suffer from depression. Surely that means that almost everyone is affected by it – if not directly themselves, than by a family member or loved one.

Having suffered from depression myself, maybe this is why this play resonates so powerfully with me. Because how can you explain what’s going on in your head when on the outside, you appear fine?

That’s why the physical theatre and dance worked so well with this show. The framed pictures of him collapsing represents his mind collapsing. The bag of bits on the kitchen table a metaphor for his scattered mind.

But let’s not forget that humour, the typists in the telesales office, with their pretend typing and their ridiculous masks. The overbearing boss with his head inside an expanding picture-frame.

When we’re hearing about the writer, how he walked those streets for miles, how he felt like if he didn’t stop walking, he would surely jump, his courage and bravery astounded me. The tears were back. How can someone use such incredible pain, pain that we normally hush hush away, and create something so beautiful? Something that will surely touch many people’s lives.

Afterwards, when the lights had gone up, the atmosphere in the theatre was visible. It was as if people couldn’t move, as if they needed to sit for a while and digest what they had just seen. People sat on, people talked, people hugged. There was a shared connection.

I am truly privileged to have watched this production.

I wonder if this will return for a third time. I wonder if it will go on tour around UK and Ireland.

I do hope others get to experience this very special piece of theatre.

"Date Show After Dark" - Bullitt Hotel

Do you ever sit in a bar or restaurant and idly watch a couple sitting nearby? Do you find yourself wondering a little about their background? Are they on a first date? Are they in a long-term relationship? Have they just had an argument and now they’re struggling for something to talk about? 

I do it. All the time. 

Are you a people-watcher like me? Nosy, I mean, curious?

‘Date Show After Dark’ is the perfect performance for a people watcher. Imagine you could sit near a couple, watch what’s going on, wear headphones, and hear every single word they mutter into their discreet microphone?

You’d overhear the couple who are having an argument. The one where the girl is jealous because the waitress is flirting with her date right under her very nose.

You’d overhear the phone-call where one girl is talking about her anxiety about her ever-more distant boyfriend. And then you’d even overhear the distant boyfriend sinking a few beers with his best mate and saying what he really thinks about said girlfriend.

And if all that wasn’t enough to whet your curiosity, then you’d even follow a lady up in the lift to her bedroom and hear her thoughts as she goes. You’d get to have a peek inside her hotel room as she fires clothes into her suitcase. You’d make a mental note to yourself that the Bullitt hotel rooms are absolutely gorgeous and you really must think up an excuse to book yourself in there some night- preferably with some hot date?

Then, as if it wasn’t going to get intimate enough, you’d then go inside the bathroom where an actress (completely naked I might add), is showering and preparing for a date. You’d hear her stream of consciousness as she nervously gets ready.   

No actually, it gets even more intimate, because then you’re back in the bedroom and this time you’re watching a sexy scene unfold!

Just as the couple reach their heights, you’re back out in the corridor and following a laundry guy. He’s one of the actors of course, but meanwhile a ‘real’ customer is swiping her card and opening her hotel room, watching you and the remaining headphone-wearing audience with curiosity and a wry smile.

You’re then in the bar, watching as a woman anxiously awaits a date. She’s an actress too of course but out of the corner of your eye, you spot a ‘real’ woman who actually is waiting for someone. Truth is wonderfully blended with fiction.

The timing of this performance is perfection. How the director has choreographed such a cast of characters, with three rotating audiences to all come together at the end is beyond me.

After the performance, my sister and I went for food at a local eatery. I noticed a young woman nervously wave over at a guy. Her make-up was perfection and her outfit spelled hours of planning. I could tell by their awkward body language that this was a first date. Now, where was my headphones and their microphones when I needed them?

Date Show After Dark runs from 11-19 October 2018 at Bullitt Hotel, Belfast