Review: Maybe I Should Stop (Drayton Arms Theatre)

Review by Dan Sinclair

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The theatre industry has seemingly convinced itself that we cannot see stories about COVID, nobody wants to see that, it’s too soon, it’s been too long. In the classic British way, we seem to have just put our chin up and decided that it didn’t really happen. We should just move on, stop thinking about it, maybe we should stop. 

As part of their double bill at the Drayton Arms Theatre, To The Tooth Theatre bring their re-staging of Maybe I Should Stop, an exploration of the grief that was born out of that time, and the people we lost, the ones the government would like us to move on from. Written and performed by Oscar Brudenall-Jones, this is a devastating and hilarious (both in equal measures) story that races by. A stream of consciousness, it is a properly brilliant monologue.

On a train seat, he holds a tub of Celebrations containing the ashes of his father. He is hurtling down to St Ives to scatter him there, the site of many a family holiday. A wannabe actor and impersonations extraordinaire, we whisk through the events that have led him here. Hours spent hunched over Time Crisis II, a stint spent working in a care home, but throughout it all, the tub of celebrations looms over the play. When he finally reaches St Ives, something finally snaps in him as the play reaches its conclusion. The writing is sharp, quick, and packed full of character. Brudenall-Jones’s writer’s voice is crystal clear. Whilst it would be nice to have a bit more clarity on his runaway (as a police manhunt for him gets underway by the end), it doesn’t get in the way of the enjoyment.

Oscar Brudenall-Jones is a captivating leading performer, and it was about halfway through that it hit me, he is both Mark and Jez from Peep Show at the same time (is it also true that I’d just finished rewatching Peep Show that afternoon, yes, next question). He is outlandish, unchained, he loves life, and then in the next moment, he is a cynic, shy, and violently pessimistic. It’s in both the writing and the performance by said writer - complex, nuanced and completely charming. 

Lighting design by Conor Costelloe flicks between the warm and cold of the performance, regularly snapping as the story turns a darker corner. Whilst this can sometimes be jarring, it works just nicely, but when the helicopter arrives at the end and it’s searchlight begins scanning the stage, this made my heart sing. Sound was at times a bit choppy, with cues often just jumping in and out, whilst often not an issue, it did mean the ending beat was ever so slightly soured. But not enough to distract from the beautiful performance on stage.

Clowning is evident in every part of this performance, from Brudenall-Jones’ command of the stage, his bounding and bouncing, but also in its tackling of grief and loss. It disarms you, and then hits you in the face, and this is the superpower of Maybe I Should Stop. Whilst its rough edges sometimes catch the light, it’s inventive and well worth a watch, and I hope it keeps leading the charge on discussing the nationwide trauma we all felt in those years as it heads out on its UK tour.

Maybe I Should Stop In is playing at the Drayton Arms until 29th November, and then continuing on a regional tour, more information below.

Tickets from: https://www.thedraytonarmstheatre.co.uk/lock-in

Tour Information from: https://www.tothetooththeatre.org/ 

Photos by Henry Roberts