People, Places & Things Review (Trafalgar Theatre, London)

17 July 2024 I 14:30 I Trafalgar Theatre, London

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Heading into People, Places & Things, I knew extremely little of the play beyond an actress going through the process of rehabilitation. It is an observation of perhaps the most mentally enduring ordeal a person can live. Jeremy Herrin's direction does oversee theatrical scenes, metaphorical expressions of trauma and emotional belonging. But with balance, the fourth wall returns, a brutally honest watch as a laboured portrayal of what 'recovery' means. To recognise the people, places and things that jeopardise such.

Staged at London's Trafalgar Theatre, I was lucky to be included in the onstage seating experience, a traverse production where it is immediately surreal to have the conventional audience opposing you. With 36 audience members onstage, we are isolated to the subjection of being watched, as are the actors. A judgemental position, equal pressure held by the characters, the condemnation that comes with rehabilitation. Being so intimately connected, emotion is intensified in the space. Sometimes frightening, but a supportive atmosphere that begs you to lean in and resonate with genuine human connection.

Led by Denise Gough, her acting potential knowns no boundaries, astonishingly powerful in how she has entirely absorbed herself in the role of Emma. There is a semblance to method acting, the total immersion into a character that feels entirely believable, as if there is lived experience behind her choices. For a brief moment, I was very lucky to share eye contact with Gough, and it is the pain through the eyes that really struck me. Her ability will go down as one of the greatest raw stagings in our lifetimes.

In opening scenes, it was really disheartening that another audience member chose to film the stage, on which Gough brought to attention whilst in character. While upsetting to read how unnerved this made her, I endlessly commend Gough for a remarkable professionalism in remaining so confident and assured. She delivered a heart-breaking and vulnerable performance despite the circumstance, truly one of our theatrical greats.

The use of blackout and sound design (James Farncombe and Tom Gibbins respectively) are incredibly inspired, where this visceral test on the senses implodes a feeling of acceleration, a temporal rush that throws us through time. At the mercy of the production we lose our control, as I admire the restlessness of Herrin's vision.

Sinéad Cusack embodies the maternal figure on multiple levels, really soothing the dramatic pace of Macmillan's script. Where she represents the hardships with a wise and level headed temperament, this nuance is essential to balance the extremes of the play in everything required to overcome addiction. Additionally with Malachi Kirby's Mark, juxtaposing Gough's character, yet finding existentialist conversation that encourages audiences to garner their own opinions on life's value.

From the use of body doubles to Bunny Christie's clinical set, with entrances that materialize from nothing, a malleable staging forms an alternate reality that audiences cannot recognise. These fleeting, dreamlike states provide the diversity to keep the production alive, as the unforgiving mental cruelty of Emma's situation is interrogated.

People, Places & Things, originally written by Duncan Macmillan, provides a surprisingly funny but exhausting presentation of the rehabilitation process. The extent of how much an actor 'acts' is considered, where the boundary of reality is confused. Despite holding a routinely distressing aesthetic, characters aren't antagonised, rather inducing sympathy. The onstage seating feels every ounce of this rollercoaster, an afternoon that will stay with me for many years.