Just before lockdown halted live performances for the next month, Nottingham Playhouse continued its Unlocked Festival with comedian Lewis Doherty performing an entire show on his own, voicing every character and creating every noise with just a chair on stage. But how did it happen?
Detective Patrick Wolf returns to Shadow City (a city rotten to the Core) to investigate the death of his partner Jay Walker – a rather fitting pun for a name. Little does he know though that there was more to his death, and that corruption is rife in the city on both sides. Friends will become enemies. Conspiracies will be spilt out. The only other things Lewis has to support him are a raised stage, a chair, lighting and sound effects played at certain points which can sometimes enhance or distract from the performance.
The story, despite being performed by Lewis, is still understandable despite often switching places between characters, rather than just acting on the spot like a stand up comedian. Lewis is able to switch between characters – with distinctive accents, mostly different versions of American – and sounds seamlessly as if he is improvising on the spot, reminiscent of the late Robin Williams (particularly his performance as the Genie in Aladdin) or Gollumās two personalities.
He also does quite a few interesting movements – including pretending to be some birds flying away or recreating the sounds of an opening vault. The play also breaks the fourth wall to introduce characters or admit to various cliches (e.g. Black umbrellas at a funeral).
Unfortunately, I feel that the absurdity of the comedy and the piece as a whole (the fact that it is done by one person) kind of defuses the seriousness of the play, especially when you consider that we are dealing with a murder mystery. Once we catch up to where the show starts and Wolf is been threatened of being shot, I didnāt feel worried for him because I knew he would survive and it doesnāt feel serious or like a twist because it came earlier.
This show is just simply a silly and fun time – which is maybe what we need during this time. Whilst I will admit that a fantastic feature has been carried out ā as it is not easy to carry an entire show on your own – the fact that this is a comedy first and a murder mystery second caused me to lose engagement throughout. I wonāt deny though that I was laughing and I did enjoy myself.
By Stuart McComb
Feature image: Artspod