A Review of Xsist Media’s Mitigating Circumstances

Grief can be defined in a multitude of ways, whether as something dark and emotional or something selfish, but never before have I considered grief as something competitive. Through the lens of dark comedy, Lucas Closs presents the grief of two young people both as a social and an artistic competition in his Mitigating Circumstances. There was the sense that the two lead characters, Arthur and William, were losing sight of the true reason for their circumstances as they sought to outdo each other. This unusual concept was thought provoking on its own, but add to that some of the most insane artwork, singing and dance routines that audiences are likely to have ever come across and you have a recipe for a unique night at the theatre.

The play opened with a blackout and music which lightened to a story telling sequence told under a red light. I feel that there is no adequate way in which to describe this opening other than to state that it introduced the character of Arthur, played by Adam Slater, as a self obsessed and perhaps somewhat delusional individual. My notes taken in the theatre describe him as a nerdy, attention seeking drama queen and in hindsight this still feels like the most apt description. Following the death of his father, Arthur returns to art college having already written the narrative of his future, deciding that he will draw upon his grief to create profound artwork that will change the world. A modest goal to say the least. Unfortunately, fate threw a curveball into the mix, for a fellow student, William (played by Archie Turnbull), lost both of his parents on the same day as Arthur lost his father. Both battle for their grief to be valued more highly amongst the cohort, somewhat egged on by their implicitly disturbing teacher. Played by Alexandra Cook, the teacher appears harmless enough to begin with, tackling the pain of two determinedly dramatic individuals with patient compassion, yet there is the sense that she is treating their grief as an experiment to see how it will be channelled into their artwork. Despite this disturbing set of circumstances, there was no denying the explicit comedy of the whole performance – not merely because none of the artwork was in any way skilled.

There are some performances in which the confidence of actors is to be admired due to their ability to do truly crazy things upon the stage without looking remotely uncomfortable. This was undeniably one of those performances, with crazy moments such as the making of a cocktail with the ashes of William’s dead parents to a frankly hilarious dance sequence. All of the actors involved with the project were both talented and confident, pulling together to form a cohesively believable few hours that without a shadow of a doubt pulled audiences into the action and held them captivated, unsure what would be presented to them next. From bad music to iconic lines such as ‘hey universe, this is really not on, alright?’ and ‘I’m still creative enough to think of reasons why I am better than him’, it was an excellently designed piece of theatre. For me the standout character was undoubtedly the long suffering Ava played by Iris Bowdler, for she is presented as the most sane of the lot. We never get the opportunity to see whether any of her artwork can rival those we witness in terms of quite how bad it is; however, her art of patience was unrivalled in its brilliance. Bowdler managed to capture the frustration of the character as she navigated the plague of selfishness, melodrama and just general narcissism that surrounded her without ever conveying to the troubled characters in question that she was frustrated by their behaviour. The charater was presented as the little women whilst the writing highlighted just how frustrating a male centric society can be. If art eats life, then it was their art that was swallowing her life without a care for her feelings or personality.

Ultimately this was a comedically intense exploration of grief. The pure insanity that audiences witnessed upon the stage of The Old Fire Station was written so as to hit perfectly with every comment and bit being timed with incredible skill and performed by an excellent group of actors. While this play would not perhaps be my go-to night at the theatre, I am extremely glad that attended the stellar performance. With endless guilt trips, double crossing and examples of bad art, this was a story that left me questioning what exactly happened at the end – did Arthur actually die?! It was funny and somewhat thought provoking leading me to question not only what is self but also how modern society navigates feeling rules. This was a story of two heroes in the same tragedy, fighting for enough room to… flourish? It was an excellent piece of art about a series of truly shocking pieces of artwork.