Writer: Nick Hyde
Director: Jef Hall-Flavin
Masculinity, depression, suicide, subtly portrayed with thoughtful consideration, and also not afraid to be funny and entertaining? Sounds too good to be true. But Double Act, Nick Hyde’s new full-length play hosted at Kentish Town’s Lion and Unicorn, poignantly, and at times with humour, tackles the subject head-on, and does it powerfully.
On a mostly empty stage, one man has skived off work; so, he decides to head for the coast. It’s his last day alive. As he transports himself through London, battling commuters, old acquaintances, petitions on feral goats and something called a ‘gratitude diary’, his journey to Beachy Head is fraught. Two competing aspects of his personality (played by writer Nick Hyde and Oliver Maynard) have a battle of will and wit, simultaneously desperate to reach his final destination, whilst desperately finding reasons to delay.
Working across the intimate stage, Maynard and Hyde are interchangeably brilliant. They are indistinguishable when acting as one, holding an effortless physicality that has deep moments of intimacy between the two performers; it is hugely compelling to watch. They split from this immediately when adopting opposing characters, not afraid to have fun with excellent characterisation that has a delightfully spontaneous feel. It is no small feat to boomerang back to heart-breaking realism, and it is done with great skill.
Jef Hall-Flavin’s practised direction has an obvious hand in measuring the pace and tone of each scene. The production moves seamlessly through clowning, skit, drama and serious dialogue without a hitch, each mood and tone hit with intention. Genuine laughs succeed in breaking the tension of the more fraught moments without undermining the significance of the message. With such a serious subject matter pacing can be the death of a production, but in Double Act, 80 minutes feels like no time at all.
The risk for a production such as this is to fall into contrived scenes with obvious exchanges of dialogue; for instance, a man at his end, convalescing at McDonald’s, making amends and tying up loose ends whilst he has time. Instead, Nick Hyde’s excellent script sees a compelling conversation with an ex over a McPlant that serves to transport us into the psyche of a distraught man. Scenes bemoaning the frustrations of commuter trains and jobs-worth transport staff push past cliches into genuine laughs and endearingly heartfelt moments, mixed with the honesty of the distressed situation of our split-personality protagonist.
It’s a tribute to the importance of listening and a heart-breaking picture of a man desperately seeking reassurance.
Suicide is not a lightly held subject, but in the hands of Double Act it is so compassionately and realistically felt, that it is hard to break focus. This January north-west London holds one of the most simplistically profound ruminations on what is a rarely touched-on topic. An important piece, and an essential watch.
Runs until 13 January 2024
The Reviews Hub Score
Poignant, moving, important
