What’s This? (National Drama School) – theatre review

American writer Edgar Allan Poe (19th January, 1809 – 7th October, 1849) cultivated mystery and the macabre. There is horror in his work. So, too, in the National Drama School’s What’s This?, devised by graduating actors, and focusing on mental health and torment. Six pieces, each featuring one of the six performers, were either derived autobiographically, biographically and/or drawn from Poe’s tales. One morphs seamlessly into the next.

First up is Lainey Drake, who lights up the room in an offering about desire. They want it. They need it to feel alive. So much so, that they have convinced themselves that they are a better person when they are desired. They set the tone for the others to follow. Lainey’s natural delivery style is a real winner. Eleanor Timms presents as damaged, deeply affected mentally and physically by trauma she suffered at age 12. It changed her and her outlook (before the incident she used to wear bright colours, but after, she disposed of them), even though it wasn’t her choice. In fact, a great deal of this piece is about the issue of choice and how things happened regardless of what she may have wanted.

As a starting point, Noah Sargent used Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher, which he has gone on to reinvent. All his life, he has had to mask his true self, pretending to be something he isn’t and it has made him desperately unhappy. His parents pushed him to be a leader, but that didn’t come naturally. He is looking to forge his own identity, to throw off the shackles. Ami Mcelle prowls about the stage in a physical performance drawn from Poe’s The Black Cat. Assuming a masculine role, he tells us that tomorrow he will die, but today he wants to unburden himself. So it is that he relays his shocking story. Initially noted for his tenderness and care, his temperament suffered and worsened. Extreme violence followed. It points to the evil within us and what happens when that is acted upon, which Poe wrote about.

Luke Smith has relied upon Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart to construct a story about a descent into madness. It concerns an old man he loved, save for the latter’s deformed eye, which drove Luke crazy, so he did something about it. He plotted a course of action and followed through with it, only to be plagued by what he was driven to do. Charlotte Palmer deals with buried emotion, channelling Poe’s short story The Premature Burial, as she talks of her empty, fragile and broken heart. The issue of trust is prominent.

If this is the future of theatre in this State and this country, then we are in safe hands. All the performers do themselves and their teachers, along with director Jaime Dorner, proud. Their delivery is measured, unhurried and precise, their passion and conviction evident. With an essentially black palate and but a few props (wooden chairs, a video camera, mattress, tool box and masks), they are clearly exposed, but none falter, not even for a moment. In fact, each comes through with flying colours. I look forward to seeing how their respective careers develop.

An effective device used to represent the sullying of man and the burden he bears as life delivers hit after hit is the appearance of silver bucket loads of dirt. (I should add, it just looks like black sediment, but the reality is small rubber granules or crumbs.) That is liberally spilt and tossed onto a largely bare stage, the stain spreading as the vignettes unfold. In keeping with the theme, transitions too are quite disturbing. I am reminded of Norwegian artist Edvard Munch’s most noteworthy work, The Scream.

Mind you, that is my interpretation. What’s This? is an esoteric and imaginative work that you are free to read into what you will. The ingredients are laid out, but what you make of them is up to you. As far as I am concerned, they speak of the human condition being deeply troubled. What’s This? is on at Theatre Works’ Explosives Factory until 23rd November, 2024.