Bobby (Tour – Salford)

Bobby (Nobody wakes up in Dreamland) by
Just Add Water Theatre Company tells the story of a young man from
boyhood to death, through a combination of the processes inside his
body and the events outside his body. While this is an interesting
approach to showing how disassociated from society mental health
issues can make people feel, it never really works to engage the
emotions.

Bobby is a young boy, ignored by his
mother and grandmother, bullied by his older brother and abused by
his father. Only his grandfather talks to him gently but he is in a
home with severe Altzeimer’s. When his grandfather dies, the
downward spiral of Bobby’s life speeds up, and he ends up homeless,
alcoholic and abusive. He ends up in a mental health prison but the
spiral down continues.

The idea of using parts of the mind to
show what Bobby goes through is an interesting concept. The
increasing control of fear and self doubt accurate. But despite some
considered explorations, the conscious never comes across as anything
more than a biological function.

The four performers Ben Moores, Tom
Barry, Niven Ganner and Jennifer Campbell work hard to create all
the characters from the conscious mind. Using physical theatre and
puppetry to show Bobby and his thoughts should add emphasis, but a
rather creepy faceless puppet and the changes into a movement section
mean that it feels disjointed. Ironically the parts that work best
are when the narrative is carried forward by a sequence of written
pages.

Director Felicity Goodman has worked
hard to make something of Ben Moores’ script but I found myself
leaving the show feeling ambivalent about the whole thing. Inspire
love or hate, but mediocre is never going to succeed.