Laying the matter to rest: an online webinar mines funerals for dark comedy, with the laughs turning to sorrow as its protagonist faces her father's death.
Sorrow and laughter go hand in hand, so it goes to follow that 2021's answer to gallows humour would be a funeral home Zoom webinar which upends itself with an exploration of grief and family politics. Rhiannon Boyle's new dark comedy wraps a frank portrayal of grief in all its complications within a tongue-in-cheek interactive piece. Prepare for discomfort and deliciously wicked jokes.
"Boyle hides the show's conflicts within its decorative folds, allowing for a natural discovery of detail which rewards the viewer for paying close attention."
Mali Tudno Jones plays calm and collected undertaker Anna Morgan-Jones with supreme ease. Her forced confidence complements the jerky Zoom quality of Morgan-Jones' webinar, complete with technical hiccups which devolve into slinging matches with a commenter and unexpected powerpoint slides. We see Morgan-Jones' veneer of professionalism waver, and underneath there's a flustered, more chaotic energy to Jones' perfomance.
The show is complete with a BSL interpreter and palantypist, two key roles in the show who get to play with Boyle's script as well. This inclusion of accessibility within the play's narrative means it's far more integrated, an admirable feat which offers the two members of the team to also deliver some comic gems and centre the discussion of how much more easily we can make theatre accessible when it's online. Kill Me Now makes a grand bid for the continuation of online theatre post-lockdown lifting, and this is one hell of a way to make that accessibility stick in the audience's mind.
Boyle's script becomes lighter on jokes as the drama unfolds, but still feels inventive through use of the interactive chat box. By incorporating this early on, Boyle hides the show's conflicts within its decorative folds, allowing for a natural discovery of detail which rewards the viewer for paying close attention. Morgan-Jones' grief over the death of her father, not to mention how it happened, is clear to see, but those subtle nuances and differing in opinion with family members highlight that even death isn't black and white. This is a thoughtful, funny and inclusive piece which stakes a strong claim in the realm of black comedies. With stiff (forgive the pun) competition from I Think You Should Leave's 'Coffin Flop', that's an especially impressive feat.
Kill Me Now was available to screen from 16-21 August, find out more about Dirty Protest Theatre and their upcoming shows here.