Writer and Director: S.D. Clifford
With DARKK S.D. Clifford makes a study of discomfort for the audience. Clifford writes, directs, and stars as Terry, taking the viewer through one evening of isolation as he escapes from the world and contemplates the building of a flat-pack coffin.
The atmosphere is building from before the performance starts; upon entering the Boys’ School the audience is met by a looping track of phone sounds and coughing that grates on the nerves. This builds in intensity as Clifford takes to the stage in the dark, muttering and shouting over the looping in of distorted voices and disjointed phrases. This level of confusion and unease continues through the entire performance as Terry talks to his reflection, his boots, his radio, and the real or imagined people on the other end of the phone. He is convinced that people are speaking about him online, and his only recourse is to remove himself from that world and move into the dark.
Clifford forces the audience to sit in a situation that is familiar to all but commonly avoided; Terry is the man on the bus talking to himself, or the woman muttering on the street, or countless other people that are generally walked away from as quickly as possible, but here there is no escape. At 95 minutes including a ten minute interval it is an uncomfortable piece to sit through. It’s hard to follow the train of Terry’s thoughts or understand what is real and imagined, the tempo is slow and the content is circuitous and repetitive. But how could it be any other way? There is no let up from the confrontation with Terry’s reality.
The set and costume design are well thought out and interesting; Terry looks the part and the props chosen add to his journey through the mind. Particularly well used in this piece are light and sound, with the descents into dark very appropriate and all audio serving to build layers of madness and discomfort.
Clifford writes Terry extremely believably, and embodies the character well also, there is not a moment where it does not feel that the audience is sharing a space with a man who is descending into some level of insanity, and it’s hard not to feel compassion and pity for this man who caresses his boots with the love normally reserved for a child or pet.
A curious piece that requires a strong commitment from the audience, but an interesting journey nonetheless.
Reviewed on June 30th 2023.
