You’re in for a wild ride when you watch ‘People Places & Things.’
It’s a multi-sensorial experience that will either make you flee for the exits or will preferably help you to better understand drug addiction and appreciate a masterful production.
Emma (an amazing Denise Gough) has been sent to a drug rehabilitation centre. As an actress, she’s playing roles in her profession, but it’s hard to believe what she says in real life is real or not. In the institution (the stage is one very large very white room with padded walls) she’s assessed by nurses and doctors, but in her mind (played out on stage) she processes this experience very erratically via episodes that take her, and us, through a rollercoaster. She’s uncontrollable at first, acting out and rebelling against anyone and everyone. It doesn’t help that these episodes she experiences (a couple times there are several Emma’s on stage with the real Emma in scenes that are surreal, mesmerizing and eye-opening). Emma has issues about her mother, relationships, literally just about everything, and when she gets introduced to fellow drug addicts in a group therapy session Emma’s eyes open and so do ours, both at the destruction drugs do to people, places, things, and families, and how cleverly its played out on stage.
Gough reprises her role from the 2015 version at the National Theatre that won her an Olivier and Critics Circle Theatre acting awards. Her performance is amazing in a role that requires both physical, emotional and mental prowess. The newly remodelled Trafalgar Square theatre is the perfect stage for this show. It’s intimate, perhaps a bit for this show for those who are squeamish. The matinee that I went to several people didn’t come back after the second half – ‘People Places & Things’ is a hard watch – but sit through it all and you’ll see how powerful the show and it’s message is, and how fantastic Gough is.
Playing until August 10th, 2024