Alex Getting Better – Bread and Roses Theatre

Set in the United States, Alex Getting Better explores the story of re-emergence of old trauma and how it can affect people in different ways. The playwright, Audrey Lang, describes the play as a play about strength, moving forward and learning to deal with the present and the future.

Written from Lang’s own experiences, the principal character, Alex, navigates her past and sexual assault through speaking with her therapist and reconnecting with her old friends from middle school. The friends visit their old stomping grounds, talk about their previous experiences of sexual assault, and carry out activities reminiscent of their youth.

As the audience enter the theatre, Alex (Erin Maria Walther) and her therapist (Alice Gold) are on stage. While not conventional for the performers to be already on stage, both Walther and Gold stayed completely in character, creating an unusual experience, leaving the audience in anticipation.

A standout feature was the use of monologuing throughout the performance. Walther opens and closes the show with an internal monologue from Alex, which rounds off the performance nicely. While Alex and her therapist have their initial session, they outline the premise of the play and who Alex will visit during their break, her friends Jennie (Maria Karélina), Ruthie (Rebecca Weiss) and Hallie (Sophie Bahari). The scene changes by music playing, rather than lighting, an interesting choice as the actors could be seen moving furniture on stage. The music did not reflect the mood of the performance and felt incongruent. The use of lighting may have been better placed to switch scenes and overall used more skilfully throughout.

There were limited props and staging in the performance, the biggest prop being a makeshift bed at the back of the stage. While some actors were not speaking, they remained in the background throughout doing various activities on the bed such as playing games and painting each other’s nails. Although a noteworthy artistic choice, at times the background performers were distracting, and took focus away from the primary performers.

At times, the blocking choices were of the actors felt clunky and predictable and didn’t reflect the serious subject matter that was being talked about. Notable chemistry was between Alex (Walther) and Hallie (Bahari) when they were conversing on the bed, feeling the most natural part of the show.

While the premise of the play and the subject area is incredibly important and must be discussed, at times the show felt difficult to follow and the pace could have been quickened to further captivate the audience. Although two acts, the play could have been shortened to one act, to make for a more punchy and memorable performance.

Alex Getting Better is playing at The Bread & Roses Theatre in Clapham until 18th June 2022 and tickets can be purchased from https://www.breadandrosestheatre.co.uk/  

Content Warnings: Rape & Sexual Assault, Trauma, Memory Loss

Reviewer: Maani Way

Reviewed: 15th June 2022

North West End UK Rating: ★★