Writer: Jonas Jamarik
Director: Michael Gyngell
He’s tired. His back hurts. And he has a crippling feeling that his life is falling apart, and there’s nothing he can do to stop it.
Today, 26-year-old Scott (Callum Balmforth) has found himself hiding underneath the table in his kitchen that he shares with flatmate Tom (Matthew Forrest). Upon discovering Scott in this state, Tom begins the long and futile process of trying to talk him off the ledge (the ledge, of course, being a day of childish uselessness). Alas, Scott is going nowhere, so Tom abandons work and invites mutual friend Harmony (India Walton) over to help attempt to cure Scott’s ennui.
Over the course of the day, different combinations of the three reveal their damaged inner selves. Scott is a loose cannon: petulant, arrogant, and, most importantly, stationary. His penchant for shooting off whatever’s on his mind is both hilarious and destructive. His grand catalogue of useless comments makes the serious ones all the more impactful. How did an awkward discussion about weird porn become a confession that, when he was 10 years old, Scott realised that his father knew he would never amount to anything?
The discussion topics are fluid, from sex to work to weed to a potential pregnancy scare. The dynamic between the three friends emerges as Tom and Harmony come and go throughout the afternoon. Tom berates Scott because he’s lazy and won’t work; Scott criticises Harmony for her sexual partners; Harmony erupts at Tom for his lack of empathy. Can Scott remain under the table indefinitely? Is this a setup by his friends to try and coax him out? Later, Harmony sits alone with Scott, and the conversation gets more real. Scott pries at a shrouded night in her past, which she swears she won’t talk about but secretly might want to. He brings about both chaos and catharsis through his inability to let this (or any) subject go.
Jonas Jamarik’s ultra-modern social exploration could be dangerous in the hands of just any cast. Fortunately, this is no ordinary cast, and three fantastic performances capitalise on Jamarik’s hysterical dialogue and suffocating emotional explosions. Such an intimate look into these characters’ minds requires an equally intimate space. The Baron’s Court Theatre certainly meets the mark, but a small pity of A Guy Called Scott is its limited scalability. The tight budget seriously limits the scope of the play, but the show doesn’t feel lacking.
The friends all share deeply unsettling truths about their mental health in a strangely casual way that is unique to a specific subset of modern-day young people. A Guy Called Scott will not resonate with everyone, but it tackles mental health in a realistic way that all can appreciate. It is not necessarily a story about overcoming but rather of surviving.
Runs until 26 October 2024