You Are My Sunshine – Unity Theatre

Izzy Campbell took on the daunting task of writing and starring in her own work. You are my Sunshine shines a light on the difficult conversations that families have about mental health. With only two performers, the task was big, and they made a large effort to try and make it succeed.

It begins with music, a common device for the bringing on of characters, but in this case, it went on for too long and the dialogue got lost. Faye Donnellan chose a simple setting of a living room set-up which worked for the intimacy of the conversations that followed. Yet, the yellow balloons, the same ones on the poster, were rid of in the first scene, perhaps they could have had a bit more relevance throughout the performance to be deemed necessary to have onstage.

The character of Emily, played by Campbell, was of school age and spent a lot of the piece in uniform, I found this distracting because I didn’t believe it. If Emily were older, say University age, and her big leap of doing something by herself was moving out or getting a job, would have been more successful and less predictable.

Unity Theatre is a great platform for studio performances and this production used its capabilities very well. With a lot of multimedia influence, this play demanded its audience to stay alert, by listening and reading. For the most part this was successful and added a layer of complexity into the performance. However, at times the recorded dialogue went too fast for the performers and lines were being cut short. Also, some voiceovers were too monotonous and didn’t match their context, for example, a bouncer to a bar would have to shout to be heard, not talk and a normal diction whilst music is playing.

Bradley Thomson’s performance was commendable. At times he had to deal with writing that was too ‘on the nose’ with little left to be desired for the audience, unfortunately leading to predictable outcomes, and softening the meaning behind the piece. However, his ability to bring out the light and shade in the monologues and heavy moments made the difference.

Campbell’s performance was sufficient in getting the point across and felt like it had autobiographical relevance. However, too much strain was put on just that, getting the point across, and her lines began to have repetitive structure and intonation. With theatre, the audience are meant to ask questions and be active from the intrigue of the performance, with this in mind, this play could have been put into a podcast and had the same effect.

Having said this, the story is very prevalent and important to raise awareness about. The play is accessible for those of the deaf community, with a fantastic signer stood on stage, and of course, great scouse tones and dialect were appreciated throughout this short play.

Reviewer: Hannah Esnouf

Reviewed: 21st January 2023

North West End UK Rating: ★★★