Bright Places – Traverse Theatre

‘This is a serious piece of small-scale, subsidised theatre,’ quips one of the actors at the beginning. One sincerely wishes it wasn’t. Small-scale, that is. A graphic, thorough depiction of Multiple Sclerosis (commonly known as ‘MS’), the title stems from the manifestation on an MRI scan of the lesions on the brain indicating the disease.

Regarding the darkness and despair the condition generates this couldn’t be more ironic. If only that was all a sufferer needed for a confirmed diagnosis. There’s also the lumbar puncture procedure, which is just one example of the humorous light writer Rae Mainwaring manages to shed on the matter, as Junior Doctor McHotty applies himself to our heroine Louise. ‘Serious’ it does become towards the end but in the main it’s chock-full of laughs, the affliction confronted with brave levity, excellently performed by Lauren Foster, Aimee Berwick and Rebecca Holmes, born to do it. Their sparring during the initial introductions was worth the ticket on its own. The lighting (Holly Ellis) and sound (Clive Meldrum) was essential to the production, illustrating the first signs that something’s wrong with telling, disconcerting glitches amidst the euphoria of Baby D’s ‘Let Me Be Your Fantasy’.

As anyone who has it, or knows someone who has it, MS is a hideous slow crawler, without a cure, symptoms medical advances can only diminish. Writer Rae Mainwaring should be celebrated by the good and the great for writing something so positive about something with so many negatives. One bounces out into the autumn evening with a smile on one’s face but also feelings of fury and frustration at a disease that strikes in such a random manner and at the fact this was so poorly attended. Look, it’s ‘part of the Traverse’s £1 ticket pro… one more night, if you’re reading this now, get across…

Reviewer: Roger Jacobs

Reviewed: 7th November 2024

North West End UK Rating: