Writer: Patrick McPherson
Director: Susie MacDonald
Patrick McPherson comes to London with his play Colossal garlanded with praise from the Edinburgh Festival. It’s a one-man show and McPherson, playing Dan, is a one-man shape-shifter, seamlessly moving between the rhymes and rhythms of spoken word, comic sketches, original music and gig theatre. He is instantly engaging, looking audience members in the eye as he gets ready to take us on a walking tour of his dating life. ‘No one knows how to do this,’ is his catchy refrain.
There’s a lovely shape to it. We know Dan’s about to meet a brand new date, and gradually we learn of the woman who meant most to him. But he’s dated men too. He moves with the grace of a dancer as he assumes brilliant fragments of encounters with the likes of an intense gym-goer followed by a yoga teacher. He’s hilarious in his discomfort when he’s dragged into a club, happier to be dancing to Abba. Described like this, it could be any play about the love-life of a 20-something. But McPherson’s writing and performance make it unlike anything you’ll have ever seen.
We don’t, alas, know the name of the actor who voices Sam, the Irish woman he meets there and who is clearly the love of his life. Although not a physical presence, her compelling voice makes her as real as Dan. She has her own past, and we sense that Dan will never quite live up to her far more mature self-possession. The pair live through awkward moments, including a hilarious sketch in which he meets her parents, but they seem settled. There are lovely returns to their fiercely competitive games of scrabble. Dan, ever the wordsmith, is quick to tell us what you’d get for a particular word if put it on a triple-word score.
But the relationship starts to go wrong. He realises it has slipped beyond repair when she uses the scrabble board to spell out ‘loathing’. ’31 points,’ he snaps back, desperate to ignore his grief. It’s beautifully directed by Susie MacDonald, the dazzling pace maintained, no second wasted, the brilliant lighting and sound design by Sam MacDonald effortlessly woven into everything.
Runs until 25 March 2023