Writer Billie Collins’ interweaving of three tales that from different parts of the world, loosely inspired by true stories seen in the news, promises much but sadly falls and I can’t help but feel that in its current guise it would be better suited for the radio.
From Norway’s glittering fjords to Colorado’s stunning peaks to Halewood’s majestic Tesco, three people are getting on with their lives as we meet Oskar (Reginald Edwards), Hazel (Princess Khumalo), and Rio (Tasha Dowd): they’ve never spoken; they’ve never met; yet they share the experience of a wild animal encounter that is to prove transformative to each of them.
The idea is a good one and whilst strong performances from the cast – who each feature in ensemble roles within each other’s stories – hold the attention well, the structure of the writing proves their undoing. The playwright’s mantra is ‘show, don’t tell’, yet the overuse of narration to describe what is happening rather than allowing the cast to perform it is misguided at best: Collins’ piece has come through a development programme at Sheffield Theatres as well as the Everyman’s New Works programme so there has been ample opportunity for the necessary creative checks and balances to be put in place.
Constrained by the language, director Nathan Crossan-Smith has opted to focus on the technical aspects and the heavy reliance on lighting designer Rajiv Pattani and composer & sound designer Oliver Vibrans results in an undoubted influence on Chloe Wyn’s set design. The cast setting up on-stage sound devices at the beginning of the play was drawn out and felt a little conceited, and its implementation by the cast during the performance, whilst accomplished, was a poor substitute for action itself and felt more like a gimmick.
There is a relationship thread running through each story that touches upon deeper issues such as dementia, gender identity, and miscarriage, with a particular relevance to each respective wild animal encounter, but we never really get beneath the surface of these which is a shame because one would hope that these connections were deliberate and therefore worthy of meaningful exploration in their own right. The scheduled duration of 1hr 35mins including an interval certainly means there is ample room available to do this.
The cast are undoubtedly talented, and their strong performances segued us between story lines without the need for major costume change, and on that basis we probably didn’t need the changing animal motifs in the background – I daresay better safe than sorry – when accomplished accent shifts from the cast highlighted character and place. The Liverpool-based scenes felt better suited to Liverpool’s Royal Court however with the stereotypical gags just that bit too obvious, and although popular with the guest night audience, it felt to the detriment of the humanity hinted at the heart of the play. This was also one of the three storylines that most demanded a prop, the absence of which was a missed opportunity to enhance its sense of magic and mystery.
Tonight’s production was listed as a captioned performance but unfortunately the positioning of the surtitles failed to take account of the three-sided nature of the thrust stage meaning that they were not obviously visible to two thirds of the audience unless they looked away from the stage: there are important reasons for implementing measures such as these and it is equally important that they are done well.
The Walrus Has a Right to Adventure performs at Liverpool Everyman through to Saturday 21st June with performance times and booking details available at https://everymanplayhouse.com/event/the-walrus-has-a-right-to-adventure/
Reviewer: Mark Davoren
Reviewed: 16th June 2025
North West End UK Rating: