Cold, Dark Matters – The Hope Theatre

It is said that curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought him back. It is also said that you shouldn’t go sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong, and that good advice is almost certain to be ignored. Cold, Dark Matters is a very curious play, and every aspect of its production at the Hope Theatre is morbidly satisfying. Altogether more thought provoking than it has any right to be, this fun, dark tale is neither cynical nor vapid, instead approaching its murky subject matter with a refreshingly forthright earnestness, much the way one might attempt to earn the respect of a particularly wilful horse, or an intimidatingly intimate crowd. Writer and performer Jack Brownridge Kelly doesn’t bother with charming the audience, he simply gets straight to work, and wins them over by being good (as well as occasionally, a little bit bad). There’s something alluringly transgressive about the force with which he approaches what is thankfully a very silly story, a “modern-gothic satire” that is both genuinely disturbing and twistedly delightful.

Visually and thematically inspired by Cornelia Parker’s Cold Dark Matter: An Exploded View, a work constructed and deconstructed and reconstructed by the artist herself, the British Army, and the Tate, this production is very well-suited to the Islington located upstairs pub theatre it’s currently being staged in. The gentle pulsing of unrelated music and muffled debauchery coming from below and the occasional thuds of unsteady toilet bound patrons against the locked theatre door all contribute to the sense of uneasy ambience that director Roisin McCay-Hines so artfully immerses audiences in. Set designer, Lucy Read has created a loving homage to Parker’s sculptural work and the use of space, light, and sound to transform such an unassuming room is tremendously impressive. Every costume, every prop, every soundscape, every musical cue, every bulb, every gel, and every laptop key press is right on point. It’s a genuine pleasure to watch and listen to and feel this mysterious, but never abstruse, grey and moral story unfold over the mere hour Kelly claims of your time. Enlightenment is inevitable. Whether his good advice goes heeded, is another matter entirely.

Playing until 23rd March, Cold, Dark Matters – The Hope Theatre

Reviewer: Kira Daniels

Reviewed: 16th March 2024

North West End UK Rating: