WHAT WOULD JARVIS DO?
★★★
So – where to start with this one? Laura Grillo’s self-proclaimed experimental black comedy pulls its audience into a dreamlike environment inhabited by characters deeply affected by fandom, grief and disturbing psychosis – the narrative strangely cold and instinctive as opposed to developing itself in a manner welcoming to its audience.
Didi (Annabel Smith) and GG (Isabel Butt) are two young Pulp fans intent on tracking down a pair of yellow – or gold – trousers supposed to have belonged to their hero, frontman and pin-up Jarvis Cocker. However, if theatre-goers are hoping for a romp through the heady days of Britpop, then they’d better buckle themselves up: this is a Covid-set journey into the remotest corners of an individual’s psyche – and not an exercise in nineties pop nostalgia.
By some extraordinary narrative coincidence, the sought-after trousers are seemingly in the hands of the duo’s therapist Ms Lacy (Maggie Daniels). The apparent paradox here is that Lacy is a deeply unstable woman who treats her young charges as underlings, delaying their retrieval of said garment. But this is just the start. The depth of her increasingly-disturbed persona is meted out as the performance progresses.
Laura Grillo has clearly purged her own experiences of personal pain to create the characters and their individual issues, which perhaps informs the strongest writing in the entire piece. This moment of lucidity occurs within GG’s handbrake-turn from zany daydreamer into a tender soul describing her own recollections of loss and physical death. Where the production also succeeds is in its dark portrayal of déjà vu – i.e., in recalling the repetitive and restrictive nature of lockdown, with its propensity to spiral one into oneself.
Less-successful are the over-familiar depictions of control and coerciveness: at the risk of spoiling, the ‘victims’ of Ms Lacy’s demons feel redolent of productions past (Misery, anyone?) and would likely have benefited from a fresher approach. Also falling short are the occasionally-forced attempts at surrealism – a form that clearly requires at least a foothold in reality to succeed. One might argue that What Would Jarvis Do? offers something akin to this, but the patently ‘fever-dream’ nature of the production prevents an audience from engaging fully with narrative and character before being sent hurtling over the edge. (‘Absurdism’ on the other hand, one might agree with.)
In truth, What Would Jarvis Do? is a brave if overly-long piece that asks more of its audience than perhaps it should. However, in depicting a damaged world confined to a few square feet, it makes something of a point. And if you’re still unconvinced, each scene is linked by one or two catchy Pulp anthems to carry you safely through to the finish. ‘This is hardcore’, as a dapper pop icon once noted.
Laura Grillo Productions – Omnibus Theatre, Clapham 6-16/10/26
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