In many ways, Noble is a totally normal 15-year-old boy: his Dad works away, he fights with his Mum about pretty much everything and his close relationship with his sister is in pieces as she has moved across the world to study the future of various bird species. Totally normal – until one day he feels the world pressing in, too much to handle… and he becomes a bird. Able to fly, to be free, to reach his sister, to escape from the family and the home that are crumbling around him.
This great new play from Billie Collins is produced by stalwart supporters of new writing, the Box of Tricks theatre company. It cleverly uses the breakdown of the family environment as a metaphor for the breakdown of our ecosystem, making a strong point: “we did see this coming,” but without bashing you round the head with it.
Paddy Stafford is truly excellent as Noble, his transitions from human to bird and vice versa were creative and impressively authentic and he had clearly worked very hard to understand his movements and behaviours while in bird form. That together with the simple costume change were surprisingly effective. His relationships with those around him were also well portrayed, in particular his friendship with schoolfriend Ellis, played by Ewan Grant. They both gave nuanced and layered performances that left me wanting the play to go on much longer than it did. Grant’s determination to portray Ellis’ uniqueness, in both strength and vulnerability, was really effective.
Noble’s relationship with his sister Cleo, however, was one area in which I would have liked more development. Noble’s desire to get to where his sister is seemed relatively unexplained, and I would have liked a scene that gave us more of the back story of why their relationship was so important to him. Having said that, Evie Hargreaves did a good job with the rather thin material she was given as Cleo. The relationship with Noble’s Mum, Fiona – played by Alexandra Mathie, was more fully explored, and Mathie worked hard to give a performance with plenty of light and shade.
The play was particularly well enhanced by a beautiful sound and light design by Lee Affen and Richard Owen respectively. The combination of these elements gave the small studio theatre an impression of a much larger space, and moved us through space and time effortlessly. The use of overlapping and choral dialogue to create a feeling of urgency and to reflect the behaviour of a flock of birds was also extremely effective.
It is definitely worth suspending your disbelief of what is and isn’t possible for a couple of hours to enjoy this powerful and moving play. And then go home and remember, “there is so much here to love”… in this play, and in this beautiful world of ours!
Too Much World At Once runs at HOME, Manchester until Saturday 11th March. Accessible performances are available. Details and ticket links are here: https://homemcr.org/production/too-much-world-at-once/
Reviewer: Jo Tillotson
Reviewed: 6th March 2023
North West End UK Rating: ★★★