Breathtaking;

Welcome! Would you like a coffee? Take a seat, pull up a blanket. As I entered the performance space for the Medley Theatre Company’s When They Could Not Breathe, I was greeted with smiles, had a laugh, and shared a chat among fellow audience members.However, as soon as the eerie double bass began to play - accompanied by a chilling guitar riff - this happy atmosphere was replaced with a chilling mood that captivated the audience from the first words to the ending applause.

When They Could Not Breathe takes the audience through a journey of a house, as well as the mind. Two nameless characters are introduced, only one bearing a voice and only one thing on her mind, love. But be fooled, this is not your classic love story; this is not some rom-com where characters laugh and cry and overall become better people, this is about demise. A demise of love, of mind and of the soul.

Starting with a hauntingly beautiful song, the audience fell dead silent as the hairs on the back of my neck stood still. The performer’s voice perfectly suited the mood of the production; was very impressive and was a great way to start the production. This eerie and chilling mood created from first moments of the production was the essential the play’s success.  

From the fluent command over her voice, to the use of the space, the main spoken role was able to enforce this eerie and to an extent fearful atmosphere. Performances with such a nature have a risk of crossing the line and essentially just scare the audience. However, at no point was this a concern as a perfect balance of this mood was found; highlighting the high skill of the performers.  

The production utilized various different aspects of conventions of theatre; from music, to dance, and multimedia instillations, what sounds like a very disjointed performance was in fact very fluid with little interruption of flow. Even with the location changes of the audience, everything had purpose and served scene changes well.

This production is not something you come across often, but makes you wish you could. It is a deep, thought provoking production that encapsulates so much emotion in so little time.

The only issues with the performance were the viewing restrictions with the small audience areas in some of the stations, but overall it did not detract, but may be worth reviewing for future performances.

This production is head deep in meaning, so pay attention, you’ll be glad you did. 

Performance seen 15th May 2012