Writers: Luke Ward and Alex Braglewicz
Director: Verity Drew Firth
A live-streamed suicide leads to quarrels and questions in this brilliant and disturbing drama. Social media moderator Adam is working on his sofa with his laptop on his knees, his face lit solely by the glow of the screen. He has the blinking, physically exhausted look of someone who has had to concentrate for too many hours on a computer. Sometimes he sighs, grimaces, rubs his eyes. The flat around him is messy with laundry, strewn around a plastic basket. “It’s a shithole in here,” says his best friend, Ben. Adam’s blue T-shirt reads “Honestly I couldn’t care less”.
The central theme of Static Lives is this: how much, as humans in the social media age, can and should we care? Created and performed by Luke Ward, who plays Adam, and Alex Braglewicz, who plays Ben, this is a stunningly good, intense two-hander. It’s well-written, flawlessly acted, and intelligently directed. It raises questions about how best we can survive the relentless onslaught of information.
Ben arrives with cans of Stella, and the two friends fall into comfortable patterns of banter, including Star Wars references and chat about girlfriends past and present. The welcome notes of comedy somehow raise the stakes when the friendship starts to unravel. Ben can tell something is wrong. “I’m not OK,” admits Adam, who is shaken by his own lack of reaction to the suicide video. “Why do you keep trying?” asks the seemingly more cynical Ben “I know you only care when someone’s listening. You’re just another fucked-up kid.” They argue about whether we can still be affected by tragedy when we’re fed it remorselessly. Is the power of technology to bring us an endless stream of misery undermining our ability to be moved by it or by anything, indeed undermining our basic humanity?
The friends head out clubbing, through flashing, coloured lights, and the night’s intensifying arguments are interspersed with loud bursts of electronic music, all edgy synths and static. A bespoke soundtrack by Milo Lockwood adds an unsettling energy with several expressive dance sequences sharply choreographed by Director Verity Drew Firth.
The pace and naturalism of the dialogue are a rare accomplishment. The writing is witty and thought-provoking. “Oh, so you’re interested in news now?” asks Adam; “well, they started putting ads on Pornhub,” Ben fires back. This kind of interaction between the friends is continuous and at realistically breakneck speed. When these actors pause, it’s entirely deliberate. “Maybe we don’t fix anything, but we notice. Maybe that’s enough,” Adam suggests, after a harrowing night of bitter words, tears, laughter.
Static Lives was staged last year in Edinburgh and is back for an encore at this year’s Camden Fringe. This thought-provoking, timely show would be impressive in a larger theatre. As a fringe performance in the room above a pub, it’s mind-blowing.
Runs until 21 August 2026
Camden Fringe 2026 runs until 30 August
