RAGE ROOM - REVIEW - TRAVERSE THEATRE

This review contains spoilers for the show’s ending. I would usually work around this when reviewing, but it is unfortunately key to the discussion of the show and its flaws.

Going to script-in-hand presentations of plays in early stages of development can be a really rewarding experience. Sometimes you get to see a show that, although rough around the edges, is clearly going to become something really special. However, it can mean seeing a show that really does need a lot of development and this was unfortunately the case with Rage Room, a new play by Mhairi Quinn presented as part of a series by Tandem Writing Collective.

There’s a lot about this play that does show promise. Some of its themes, such as how feminism is perceived differently by women from different generations, feel like fertile ground for exploration, as do some aspects of the central family dynamic. The comedic tone the script strikes also seemed to resonate with the audience – there were a lot of lines early in the show that got big laughs, which is a testament to the quality of performances given by Kim Allan (April), Natalie Arle-Toyne (Dee), and Betty Valencia (Jos). I also really liked the idea of including live music by cellist Jessica Kerr to help set the tone of the piece and to soundtrack particularly key moments in the show.

However, I feel the script struggles to make the most of its promise. It felt at times like Quinn was struggling to nail down the voice of certain characters, mainly Dee, whose frequency of use of slang seemed to vary quite significantly from line to line. There were also many lines that due to the inclusion of phrases designed make it come across as naturalistic, instead cause it to sound clunky and overwritten.

My main criticism of the piece however is that it needs a completely different ending. Seeing how this show unfolded reminded me of how sick I am of plays using the trope of a quiet and implied-to-be-disabled character killing someone by accident. This is an unbelievably damaging and offensive trope, and I was really taken aback to see a show written today using it, especially when it comes out of nowhere (There’s the slightest hint of a Chekhov’s Gun but it is VERY slight) and doesn’t in any way contribute to the much more interesting points the show had raised up until this point. The ending in its current form also means that there is no character development across the course of the show. Jos, April, and Dee start the show self-obsessed, timid, and angry respectively and all end the show the same way. It means that rather than being an inspection of fraught family dynamics and how female rage can play into them, it’s an hour of watching people argue in circles and then there’s a murder. Surely another ending could be written that rather than leaning into a lazy, hurtful trope, instead allows for some kind of character development?

Overall, this is a show which has a lot of promise, and at its core it has a lot about it, which I want to see more of, largely its themes, the performances, and the way it uses music. However, further work is needed for this piece to reach its potential.

This show was a script-in-hand presentation – therefore, a star rating has not be awarded.

{🎟 AD: PR Invite – Tickets gifted in exchange for an honest review}

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