Someone of Significance
The Vaults
★★
Last night I attended a performance of Someone of Significance at The Vaults and unfortunately, it was one of the weaker shows I've seen at the festival. It basically chronicles the life of two business people and the issues they have when mixing work, politics and their social lives. In theory it could be entertaining, and whilst there are occasional moments and pieces of social commentary that make you think, overall it doesn't offer much and fails to really nail home any enduring messages.
The two hander written by Amalia Kontesi, is led well by Funlola Olufunwa (Rosie) and Simon Bass (Brad) who bring some elements of charm to their characters. The duo's chemistry isn't particularly strong but they do a good job of bringing the story to life, and have brief sparks where they really bounce off one another well. Unfortunately they've not got much to work with as the script itself is lacklustre and fails to be engaging. The pacing of the play is also quite slow, which make it difficult to maintain interest, even with it only being an hour long.
Additionally, the technical aspects of the production leave something to be desired. The lighting and sound effects are often out of sync with the action on stage, and the incessant costume changes between every scene feel completely unnecessary and take you out of the action continually. These issues are frequently distracting and make is very difficult to fully immerse yourself in the story.
Overall, while the show has some interesting moments, it never really develops any ideas enough and as a whole is an aggressively fine production. In its current form, the play doesn't feel like it has much to say. It would be much more interesting if it further developed its exploration of classism instead of trying to be a love story. The underwhelming script and strange scene changes definitely need tweaking to make any future versions of this show memorable enough to recommend.
Reviewed on Wednesday 1st March 2023
Photo credit: Vasiliki Verousi
{AD PR Invite- tickets gifted in exchange for honest review}
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