post by @nataliagresty

Seen by Natalia at Edinburgh Festival Fringe on the 13th of August 2024

1 star – dead start to finish

Unfortunately it is sometimes the worst shows that demonstrate the art and craft of great theatre better than the good ones. Thirty seconds into Dead End and you immediately realise that nothing on stage is effortless and simply provided by gods as the lights go off. This play is about two friends growing apart which is a shame, because the topic of adult friendships can provide endless inspiration and creative ways of looking at it. The performance of the two actresses was lacklustre, unconvincing, and more often than not, quite painful to watch too.

The entire play takes place in Olivia’s windowless pottery studio in London, where Bea, the more established and financially successful one, comes to visit her. A bit like Fleabag and her wealthy, uptight older sister, the dialogue between the two girls coming from opposing ends seems to find little common ground, but we barely see any believable hints of fighting, forgiveness, resolutions or genuine friendship either. Olivia is shy but she’s also grieving and while Bea is presumably naturally pretty quiet and reserved, both actresses hardly show any emotion on stage and keep looking at the ground, sometimes even turning their backs to the audience with poor lights management. Their uncertain intonation makes me think the actresses are trying to focus on the script, let alone believe in their characters, so I try to close my eyes for a second and listen to it as if it was an audio play, which doesn’t help either.

It would have been nice to see both actresses settle into their roles more and to explore the topic of childhood best friends growing apart further – something that can very much resemble a breakup but rarely gets the attention in theatre and elsewhere. The script and actresses showed signs of potential but a lot of (exciting!) work lies ahead. 

12th –24th August; 7.20 pm

Running time: 45 minutes

Venue: theSpace on the Mile – Space 2

Tickets and Info: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/dead-end 

Group: Show Don’t Tell Productions

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/deadend.play/