DON’T SEND FLOWERS | STAGE REVIEW
The Gate, Cardiff, Fri 6 Sept
The latest production by Wales’ Clock Tower Theatre Company, Emily Garside’s Don’t Send Flowers is an insightful and sensitive look at the subject of death, cancer and love: engaging, witty and fast-paced, with a reflective depth that leaves you thinking about what was important about life in the end.
The cast are outstanding, combining for an excellent performance. While tackling evidently sensitive topics, it avoids moroseness in favour of an honest portrayal handling the subject of death sensitively, with dignity and a touch of humour. It turns the tables on the conventional view of therapy, with the characters discovering that something as simple as coffee and cake can be just the tonic, and manages to steer away from sentimentality and predictability via unexpected twists and turns.
Towards the end scenes take on a somewhat surreal feel, remaining creative, insightful and mesmerising to boot. Considering the simplicity of the set, it spoke a thousand words by the dynamism created by the characters. Grace, played by Ffion King, is a believable character, struggling to come to terms with death and pain in her life; King conveys emotion as though you were right there with her in the scene, never more so than when she’s spending her final days with John (an also-outstanding James Scannell) before the latter’s death. Grace finds the simple things often provide answers to some of her questions: indeed, cake seems to bring three people together in a most unexpected way, the catalyst for unlikely friendships. Meanwhile, Louis (Tom Lloyd-Kendall) is excellent as a man trying to escape his reality only to find that facing it brings the most happiness to his life. Complex characters, but not unlike many of us, which makes this a very relatable play.
words EMILY EDWARDS
Don’t Send Flowers is also at The Gate on Wed 11 Sept