BARNES' PEOPLE: BILLY & ME (Original Theatre Online/Perfectly Normal Productions)****

 

By Tommy

Link for Billy & Me: https://originaltheatreonline.com/productions/15/barnes-people-billy-me-starring-jon-culshaw

Link for complete series: https://originaltheatreonline.com/productions/14/barnes-people-complete-series 

Available until: 31^st July 2021

The third monologue in the astounding inventive Barnes’ People is a conversation between a ventriloquist and his dummies.

The ventriloquist is feeling depressed, as he often does, and he has difficulty in believing a conversation with Billy – who is, after all, a character of his own creation – can be of any particular benefit to him. Billy is loquacious and has strong opinions, particularly when he is accused of being merely a ventriloquist’s dummy. Billy believes that he is considerably more than that.

As the monologue continues, one can only agree with him. Billy takes something of a therapist’s role as the ventriloquist discusses his feelings and his worries. Billy draws the line about having his existence questioned – as I imagine most people would – but once the subject moves into slightly less personal territory, he is willing to listen and respond. The other dummies also come into the conversation and the ventriloquist is challenged to examine his feelings and his life in ways he has, perhaps, not considered before.

It is a timely choice by Original Theatre considering the recent conversations about mental health in general and men’s mental health in particular. While the advice would normally be for a man to ask a professional rather than a ventriloquist’s dummy, two other courses of action are to talk to a friend and to think matters through yourself. Depending on your personal beliefs, Billy could fall into either category.

It is not clear whether Jon Culshaw is performing ventriloquism. If he is, he is incredibly good, but it’s not strictly necessary in a filmed production, in which a voice-over can be added later. This comment is intended not as a criticism, but it would be a great pity if somebody watched the show, expecting ventriloquism, and their superior knowledge of the subject made it clear that there wasn’t any (though I am far from an expert on ventriloquism myself and my feeling that ventriloquism does not take place in this monologue is not unlikely to be an error on my part).

However, if your interest is seeing excellent acting from a performer who is exceptional at creating individual voices and a series of characters, and has the ability to react emotionally to words said by a ventriloquist’s dummy, there is much to enjoy in Mr Culshaw’s performance. His vulnerable, emotionally unguarded ventriloquist is immediately likeable, whilst Billy is an incredible character – perhaps a bit of a trial at times, but undeniably a very insightful, intelligent and amusing companion – and the other dummies are also very enjoyable.

Barnes’ People is a very entertaining, fascinating and extremely varied series of monologues which, in addition to being excellent in their own right, also offer an interesting contrast with Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads. The only disappointment is that Original Theatre are so far only offering four of the fifteen monologues, but with theatres unlikely to open until June, perhaps there will be further opportunities for them to explore this intriguing series.