Made during lockdown, Neil Bebbers play, ‘Breathe’ stars Jordan Bernarde who plays a homeless man trying to make sense of how and why he ended up homeless. Through a monologue he retells his story. This short play (26 minutes) captures the essence of personal loss, circumstance, relationships and wanting to belong.
BREATHE is about loss and sliding door moments in life, ‘If I only I’d known’, ‘If I had done things differently’ or ‘What did I do?’ Variations of these questions have crossed our minds at one time or another about anything from personal relationships to choosing a cake, with the outcome either having barely any consequence to our futures or creating a shit storm of emotional turmoil. BREATHE falls into the latter.
You feel Jordan’s pain as he recounts the sequence of events leading to his current predicament. This is a clever and thought provoking play that makes you realise how close to slipping between the cracks you might be.
Jordan gives a believable performance as he explores when that need is not fulfilled. Using a unique way of coping and desperately trying to deal with the situation he finds himself in, he attempts to connect the dots to understand and make sense of it all.
The necessity for humans to connect and engage is more prevalent now in these fragile times. Breathe amplifies this in a bleak but in parts humorous way of how we can lose our way without even noticing.
This performance contains adult themes and is not suitable for children.
If you enjoy this performance, please consider donating whatever you can to support Shelter as the run of BREATHE is now being extended.
Words: Jasper Haze
Shelter Cymru: https://sheltercymru.org.uk/donate/
Words: Jasper Haze
4/5
