Michael Cox reviews the latest production by the acclaimed company Sh!t Theatre.
Anyone who has seen a Sh!t Theatre production will know what they are in for: a production with two performers who use music and clever observations to perform a work based on a theme. This might not be exactly the same staging as previous productions, as performers Louise Mothersole and Rebecca Biscuit tell us near the beginning of their latest: Or What’s Left of Us. But it is still recognisably them at their best—and thank goodness for that.
This production is about folk music—the songs themselves and the reasons they’re performed. It is energetic. It is a lot of fun. It is filled with intelligence. It also has teeth—and it has an ending that is devastatingly emotional.
Mothersole and Biscuit are, as always, an absolute joy to spend time with. Their understanding of theatricality is second to none; their interplay is one of their strong suits in an impressive arsenal of performance skills.
Or What’s Left of Us has a lot of things going on, and it all ties together impressively in the end. It might not be your usual Sh!t Theatre production, but it still has all of their brilliant hallmarks. And it is highly recommended (whether you see the performance or not) to join the singaround in the bar that occurs straight after.
Impressive all around.
Or What’s Left of Us performs at Summerhall from 1645-1745 (with a singaround afterwards) until August 25, 2024 (no performance on the 19th).
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