Writer: Jeremy Fletcher
Director: Marcus Bazley
The Last Motelis a dark new play from Sheepish Productions, currently touring the UK. It is packed full of twists and turns but essentially it follows two characters who find themselves trapped together after some unfortunate circumstances. It explores how far we’re willing to go to save ourselves and stand up for what we believe in.
Jeremy Fletcher’s script starts off quite slowly, but once the twists start to unfold the audience becomes slightly more enthralled by the action. The play’s biggest flaw is it takes a long to get to a stage where the audience knows the backstory of the characters, so it is challenging to root for either of them. The ending of the play doesn’t really create any strong emotional response. Marcus Bazley as director does eventually get the play moving at a good pace, and he creates a good level of suspense as to what has really happened and who these characters really are.
The play features a cast of just two – Jeremy Drakes as Abalone and Angela Rose as Eve. Drakes shows the conflict and vulnerability of his character well, whilst still making the character seem like a big enough threat to Eve’s safety. Rose shows a good range in her performance. Her downfall towards the end of the play is performed wonderfully, but it does seem to come a little out of nowhere.
The concept of the play is a good one, and it touches on some interesting topics around morality. More time just needed to be spent earlier on introducing the audience to the characters we find ourselves with, so we have someone to root for – even if that does change as the events play unfold.
Touring until 30th September 2023.
The Reviews Hub Score
Full of suspense
