Edinburgh Fringe 2024
Dead End
Show Don't Tell Productions
Genre: New Writing, Theatre
Venue: Space on the Mile
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
Can a childhood friendship survive deep ideological differences? An intimate, often funny and thoughtful exchange between two radically opposed point of views.
Review
Dead End is an intimate, real-time conversation between two childhood friends, Bea and Olivia, whose relationship is unravelling. Set in Olivia’s ceramics studio, the play is an exploration of the opposing world views of potter Olivia and marketing director Bea. As their conversation unfolds, a long-held secret is revealed, shaking the foundation of their friendship. The story of a friendship that fizzles out rather than explodes.
The set is simple yet effective, with a table, pottery tools, and the ambiance of a workshop in an old industrial building. The story begins with Bea, on the phone, quietly speaking about an impending move—her quiet demeanour sets the tone for much of the play.
The two have been friends since childhood but have grown in very different directions. Bea, sloughing off her working class background and growing up in a flat in some poverty has focussed on success, making a good income, very much the corporate girl in marketing. She attempts to create a strategy for Alice to help her market her artisan pottery. Alice isn’t the slightest bit interested and has some fairly sharp, pointed and pithy responses!
Marie Doinne’s writing is naturalistic, and she doesn’t try to resolve everything, 45 minutes doesn’t offer a lot of space for depth but nevertheless this is a confident piece of new writing with scope to develop the characters and the tensions between them further. It would be interesting to see a deeper exploration of the complexities of modern friendship and the ideological divides that can strain even the closest of bonds.
Sophie Gray and Maisie Saunders create two very believable friends whose lives have drifted apart, and the play captures the essence of a friendship that, despite its challenges, still holds a thread of love and shared history.
An intimate, often funny and thoughtful exchange between two radically opposed point of views.
