CAN WE TALK ABOUT IT? (Five Star Theatre/Stream Theatre)*****

 

By Cal

Link: https://www.stream.theatre/season/80 

Available until: 8^th April at 11.59pm GMT. Available on demand.

Can We Talk About It? is a set of eight monologues (including three which feature the same character) about subjects we ought to talk about but very often don’t. They’re produced by Ethan J. Smith and Rhian Tilley and I would guess that part of their aim is to encourage people to talk about it, whether that means sharing our own problems or talking about some of the issues raised in these monologues.

One thing that really stands out is how likeable these characters are. While the subjects might seem frightening to some people, the characters are not. Some might be worried by the man who seems to be in some psychiatric institution, but I have to ask… why? He doesn’t appear to be violent or aggressive. He’s just a young man who is hurting. Some might feel that the girl who had the three-night stand has slightly questionable values, but again, why? It was something she felt she needed and it really meant something to her. Perhaps she hasn’t been very realistic, but we’ve all been unrealistic at times and she’s not a bad or horrible person. I know very well that not everyone will accept the lovely man who has a husband and daughter who sound equally lovely, but why not put your prejudices to one side and listen to them?

I don’t want to say these people are normal – who wants to be normal? That’s just an annoying social construct which we spend far too much time aspiring to instead of embracing our individuality. But they’re human beings just like all of us. Human beings in pain. Human beings who need to talk. Human beings who are, in almost all cases, talking to a camera rather than a real person because a real person is unlikely to listen. This is proved in the one monologue where someone is talking to a real person. That person is clearly not listening.

I’m not sure who the writers are in this production. I can’t find a credit on the main Stream Theatre page or in the video. There are also four actors who are supposed to be starring in this video who don’t actually appear. Perhaps they’re the writers. But the writers are all really brilliant. They’ve created their characters so strongly, not just the ones that appear in the monologues but the ones who are spoken about. The characters and situations are very different, except for the fact that they’re all about subjects we need to talk about more. They’re vivid and powerful and they do justice to these important subjects.

Ethan J. Smith directs. The monologues might have been filmed on Zoom by the actors, but there is so much detail in the locations. It looks like everything has been chosen and prepared carefully, from the adult child’s bedroom looking like a guest room to the appearance of a genuine Muppets lunchbox. There is just one with a bit of a geographical discrepancy, but it’s possible I misunderstood how much travelling has been done by the character and it was beautifully-shot so we’ll let that one go. We’re in the middle of a pandemic, after all.

Danielle Boughey is incredibly moving in Berlin as a girl recovering from a broken heart. The set of three Lunchboxes monologues stars the charming Chris Gilbey-Smith, chatting about his lovely husband and adorable daughter and the difficulties of being the only child in the class with two dads. In Shadows of the Past, Tom Browning gives a touching, sensitive and very convincing portrayal of a young man with a mental illness. Jaye Fordham plays a character who emotionally and bravely considers her mother’s mortality in Strawberry Shortcake Lamp. Language of Love relates the story of a boy, vulnerably performed by Harry Sheasby, who is in love with his male and presumably straight best friend. Finally, Emily Jane Brooks’ character in Pearls of Wisdom is heartbreakingly desperate for her baby daughter not to suffer as she did because of crime and conventions.

Can We Talk About It? is an outstanding collection of monologues and I really hope it will lead to more people talking about love, sex, sexuality, physical and mental illness, death, rape, social expectations and the other subjects which are so much a part of life but are still seen as taboo by far too many people.