Writers: David Head and Matt Glover
Director: Laura Killeen
Unwanted Objects is the latest show to come out of the collaboration between David Head and Matt Glover. Predominantly a spoken word show, some short folk songs are interspersed in-between the storytelling. David Head is an engaging storyteller performing his words with a notebook that merely sits in his hands as a brief aide memoir and largely a prop. For within the notebook are written tales of objects collected by an eccentric second-hand shop keeper whose favourite five words are ‘free to a new home’.
We hear the story of a pirate ship in a bottle that’s become the HMS Responsibility when once it signified freedom and possibility. We hear how a chess set defined a relationship. And we hear from the view of a teddy bear once evacuated during the war. The stories are beautifully written and engagingly told but they are rich and dense and there are numerous times you long to be reading them so you can take more time soaking up the prose. There are some striking expressions that you don’t have time to fully absorb, like, “… auburn hair that had been inherited and sad eyes that had been earned.”
The length of the show requires much of the audience as acute attention is needed to follow along for the whole performance. A pause for breath comes when Matt Glover plays songs which largely recount a very brief summary of what we’ve just heard. Although in some ways this pause is welcome, really we long for these songs to add something more. A change in mood might even be particularly welcome as the songs are all slow folk melancholia which echoes the sadness in the stories. Matt Glover comes more into his own it seems when the pair tell the story of the journalist interviewing a musician. This is also when Glover plays a song that has a different feel and adds something new to the tale. It gives the opportunity also for the injection of some more comedy, shaking up the tone a little.
There are some real highlights to this show but it feels like it has not quite found its wholeness yet as a performance piece. The storytelling is, however, gorgeous. The story told through chess moves and black and white motifs is particularly stunning. The thrill of the salt shaker’s tale that touches on other stories and feels somewhat more uplifting is also a favourite. For stunning storytelling which will make your writer’s heart ache this is well worth a watch.
Reviewed on the 6th May
