The Life of Stuff

Synopsis

Sex, drugs, Sinatra, a snake and a severed toe. Simon Donald's bleakly comic play is a sorry tale of motley, mismatched crew of oddballs seeking fantasy fulfilment in the urban underbelly. Small time gangsters, groupies, pusher's dodgy chemists and hit men clash as the piece careers from paranoid farce to chaotic thriller and back to twisted fairy tale. In the newly acquired squalid low rent warehouse the low lives dream of the high life and, while they wait, seek high on rooftops and in home made drugs as the plot unwraps out of control. A desperate and desperately funny play, it mixes darkness and lyricism to great effect, and all with a liberal smearing of us.

Our Review:

15 April 2013

Intense. Hilarious. Loud. Vicarious. These are all words you could use to describe The Life Of Stuff, currently playing in traverse at Theatre 503. Written by Simon Donald in the early ‘90s, this ode to a city, a situation, a time and a place is a blastingly furious piece, full of drugs, drama, drink and delirium. It’s mad, it’s messy and it’s a pleasure to sit through.

From the moment drug dealer Alex Sneddon (Ben Adams) steps on stage, boa constrictor round his neck, menace and rage exuding from every pore of his being, you know you’re in for a fabulous ride - albeit with some unexpected twists and turns. From Claire Dargo's trapped, desperate Janice to the painfully vulnerable Fraser (Owen Whitelaw, excellent), who only really wants to leave for Ibiza with 'best pal' Raymond, Donald's characters are, on the whole, expertly etched and emotionally nuanced.

Paula Masterton is captivating as woozily ‘unemployabl...

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