OBSERVER: Backpill – Redux
A wonderful piece of ensemble theatre, the revival of last year’s production of Blackpill: Redux was a high octane ambitious show which ultimately disappointed due to poor production values and stage craft.
A young man Eli (played by Oliver Tapp) is fired from his job due to inappropriate behaviour towards a female colleague he met on a dating app.
Upset and confused by this and his lack of success with women romantically, he turns to the internet for advice. Thus begins a descent into a dark online underworld of misogynistic incels, the manosphere.
Written by Chris Patrick Hansen, the play had a classic three act structure. However, that was the only nod given to theatre tradition as the language and style of the piece was contemporary and street-wise.
The online world that Eli falls prey to was graphically and disturbingly portrayed through an industrial soundscape complemented with a vigorous choreography.
An ensemble of 12 young performers told the story. Performing in different roles, depicting the real or online world, they acted with admirable gusto.
In particular, Tapp’s central role was a strong performance which held the story together. Still, it was frustrating when, too often, conversations between characters could not be heard due to either poor voice projection or voices being swamped by the soundscape.
Responsibility for this failing rests in part with Hansen who directed as well as wrote the play. There were other production problems too such as the amplified distorted voices of actors wearing masks being difficult to understand. Even so, the use of masks was a potent dramatic device as was the dynamic choreography created by movement director Sian Quinn Dowler, ably assisted by dance captain Natasha Bowers.
Overall then, Blackpill: Redux was quite a mixed bag: some great performances and atmospherics the power of which, unfortunately, was undercut by staging problems and difficulties that, to be honest, should not exist in a professional production.
Review by Peter Murphy