A Review Of Kangaroo Court’s Shotgunned

The theatre scene has been a little quiet in Oxford lately. The students are not in the city, the Playhouse closed its doors for renovations, and any self respecting theatre lover has spent at least a little time in the past month in Edinburgh. So, there was a lot of pressure riding on my first foray back into the Burton Taylor Studio since June. Kicking off the new season is a two-hander that certainly did a lot to renew my faith in fringe theatre. Matt Anderson’s Shotgunned is an hour long rollercoaster through a relationship, from the meeting to the parting, with a heart wrenching miscarriage as its centrepiece. Told non-chronologically, the significance of plot points unravel slowly, allowing audiences to connect the dots while not giving anything away immediately. Anderson balances emotional tension with more relaxed and upbeat scenes, ensuring that despite the seriousness of the subject matter this is not an exhausting hour of theatre. This being said, there are still many hard-hitting scenes, each of which is performed to a T.

Opening near the ending, audiences are instantly introduced to Roz and Dylan in an awkward setting of their own creation. From here we learn their story in short, snappy scenes, which are at times played out with others between them. This cleverly organised collection of moments provides insight into the undeniably three dimensional characters, helping audiences to empathise with the trials of their relationship. Lorna Panton’s Roz is definitely the confident one, tough and strong. Panton wonderfully handles the transitions her character experiences, particularly in those moments where the character breaks. Equally, Fraser Allan Hogg’s Dylan is masterfully played, being awkward and feeling not quite fully grown at the beginning of his arc. Both change a lot over the course of their stories, yet it is instantly clear in each scene exactly where we are in the emotional timeline.

The fast changes, with simple blackouts between them, enable the audience to stay in the moment. The set is made up of three simple blocks and there is little reliance on props – this truly is a fringe show at its core. It is unusual to see an end on performance at the Burton Taylor; however, here this seems like the perfect staging choice. Perhaps the audience would have felt even more immersed in the story with a different seating formation, but the play certainly isn’t lacking for its traditional layout.

Stepping out of the theatre I felt immediately that I had been on an emotional journey with these characters. At once thought provoking, heartbreaking and funny, the team were able to balance on the necessary knife edge of not treating a serious topic with too much seriousness. The power was in the actors’ ability to switch between tragedy and those early moments of fun between the characters… and back again in an instant. This must certainly have been a challenge but they manage it tonally. Ultimately, it’s a reminder that while not every relationship is destined to last, each one shapes you and helps you to become the person you are meant to be. Through the emotional rollercoaster of these two people’s lives, there is still a tenderness wrapped up in the second meetings, the after the fact co-incidental bumping into each other. A reminder not to delete the kisses at the end.

Shotgunned is playing Tuesday 9th – Wednesday 10th September at the Burton Taylor Studio.

Image courtesy of The Oxford Playhouse