Review: Dick Fiddler is Dead (Etcetera Theatre)

Review by Sam Waite

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I prefer not to start reviews with content advisories, but with Natasha Markou’s Dick Fiddler is Dead, I feel it necessary to warn you. Not of the talk of suicidal ideation or talk of violent demise, of which some should of course be wary, but of the genuine risk that, as happened at the opening of the Voila! Festival run, sitting up front may result in being doused with flour. In an hour of absurdist and experimental storytelling, this brief, seemingly accidental foray into immersion seemed right at home, and reminded the audiences of the surprises that both life and what comes next can carry.

Dick Fiddler, his head bandaged, and his speech stilted, wanders onstage to find a woman, a bench, and a suitcase filled with Greek food. Jenny, his bench-mate, agrees that his name does have certain unfortunate qualities, but at least it isn’t as plain as hers, Jane… wait, no, Jenny. Even she can’t sidestep her own seeming forgettability. Dick feels his name has made him a joke, and he can’t shake it due to familial and financial obligations, leaving him despondent and seeking death. At their bench somewhere between life and whatever comes next, eating from her assorted tupperware, Jenny convinces Dick that there is more life to live and more dreams to accomplish, and from there things only become more perplexing.

Dick Fiddler is Dead’s plot, a tragicomedy about memory, transformation, and the nature of human mortality, is secondary to theme and emotion, something Markou uses to her script’s advantage. With such a tight timeframe in which to impart wisdom and meaning, she takes full advantage of the opportunities presenting by lingering, unanswerable questions. Was Dick Fiddler dead? Is Chef Ben his new visage, or simply a man who resembles him? Who is the unseen Inspector, who pounds on the door of their taverna but whose deeply-feared judgements are never seen taking place?

The titular Dick is played by Pravessh Rana, who brings a soberness and sombreness to the early scenes, before beautifully matching the comic absurdity once the bench becomes a busy kitchen and the metaphors of nourishment become realities. Whether Ben is Dick under a new guise or a new man altogether, Rana maintains the same careful emotional balancing act throughout the dual performance. Jenny, who proves – in my mind, at least – to be the true subject of the play, is played with an eccentric warmth by Julia Righton. Righton’s work guides the character deftly through scenes of Mary Poppins-esque fantasy, stern and motherly kitchen scenes, and finally a commanding and gripping reckoning with her own mortality. There are unless unanswered questions in Dick Fiddler is Dead, but Julia Righton ensures that Jenny herself is an utterly compelling mystery.

Also acting as director, Natasha Markou keeps up a steady pace that means the play’s frequent inscrutability doesn’t become grating, so briskly does it pass you by and so lingering are its questions. As well as helping to craft and easy, intimate dynamic between her actors, Markou also shows vivid understanding of her work’s eccentricities and sharper edges, allowing humour to gently find its way to the surface, not forcing laughter but often achieving it. The subject matter, ultimately, is dark and severe, and so her stage is filled not only with levity, but with weighty thought, and tentative moments at which neither laughter nor sorrow are an inappropriate response.

Confounding, endlessly questioning, and yet immediately and thoroughly moving, Dick Fiddler is Dead is a testament to the talent on hand, and exactly the kind of unique experience that only such a festival could house. In her programme notes, Markou states her intentions to combine Theatre of The Absurd with emotional realism – given that she calls the hybrid Emotional Absurdia, I would argue that she has successfully met her goals.

Dick Fiddler is Dead plays at the Etcetera Theatre until November 7th

For tickets and information visit https://www.voilafestival.co.uk/events/public-sharing-dick-fiddler-is-dead/

First and second photos by Katie Ho Photography, final photo by House of Kais