Edinburgh Fringe 2024
Bye Bye Baby
On The Brink Productions
Genre: Comedy, New Writing, Theatre
Venue: theSpace on the Mile
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
An hour of thought provoking theatre with a salutary tale of the complexities endemic in any close relationship. As the piece unfolds we see how the dynamics can change over time, how loyalties can be tested, how assumption can occlude reality. And when others shine the spotlight, hidden characteristics show that the person you’re sleeping next to isn’t quite who you thought they were.
Review
Samantha (Sam to her friends) is pacing nervously around the sort of bland, nondescript office you might meet a lawyer in. Which is apposite as Sam is a lawyer, one who specialises in helping divorcing couples divorce. Amicably, hopefully.
The only problem here, however, is that her “oppo”, Katherine, is the sort of lawyer that can start a argument in an empty room. So Sam is wearing out the carpet, nervously practising how to introduce herself and her client, long-time friend Julia, to the harridan representing Dan, Julia’s soon to be “ex”.
To add to what is already a fairly taut, complicated situation, Sam and Dan are friends and, at one point, were a wee bit more than that. Divorce is almost always messy but Bye Bye Baby, written and directed as a collective by the quartet that is On The Brink Productions, has all the ingredients for a tale that will end in tears. And definitely before bedtime.
Seconds out – round one. But as the respective lawyers bandy acid-laced legal technicalities, so their respective clients start wondering what they’ve let themselves in for.
This pulsating hour of tightly scripted theatre, dripping with adroit one-liners and dark humour, is a bit like watching two young people, once madly in love, banging their heads against the proverbial brick wall. You’re just waiting for them to realise that life might be a lot less painful if they paused and considered for a moment whether there might, just might be a better way to do this.
It all starts off innocently enough with a bit of argy-bargy concerning the destiny of disputed assets. Who will get custody of that hideous antique Georgian birdbath they had as a wedding present? And what about the Le Creuset saucepan? And who gets the……..you get the picture. But within five minutes they’re machine gunning insults across the table in what becomes an emotionally yet strangely ridiculous tirade of verbiage, given what they’re arguing over.
Time out! Clever use of stage spotlighting sees us switch rapidly between the two sides as they repair to side rooms to cool off and review their respective positions. But as soon as the combatants are back together, demands and counter-demands fly, as slowly but surely the principals are sidelined by those representing them, the best interests of their respective clients forgotten in the effort to score lawyerly points against each other, to have that winning, final, defining word.
It’s a salutary tale of the complexities in any close relationship, how the dynamics can change over time, how loyalties can be tested, how assumption can occlude reality. And when others shine the spotlight, hidden characteristics come to the fore and you realise that the person you’re sleeping next to isn’t quite who you thought they were.
Seamus Casey, Poppy Scales, Clementine McNair Scott and Lizzy Thistlethwayte, our directing/producing/creative/performing quartet, provide consummate performances of their respective characters in what is an creatively staged and paced piece of theatre that educates whilst it entertains you. Fast paced, humour filled duologues are complemented by some quite chilling exchanges, where silence is deployed to great effect. The denouement was as touching and poignant as it was, to me at least, unexpected, illuminating all too clearly the challenges of sharing your life with someone.
An hour of thought provoking theatre that comes thoroughly recommended. Just watch who you choose as your lawyer though.
