Glad to be Dead at Gullivers

Glad to be Dead?  is playing at Gulliver’s Lounge in Oldham Street as part of Manchester Fringe. It’s a set of posthumous monologues where various characters, famous and not, infamous and not, or even just fictitious, reveal all from beyond the grave – or in one case the gibbet – and their retrospective takes on life. Renditions came from Anne Boylein, Oscar Wilde, and Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde amongst others less known.

They’re all very good, at times splendidly horrible with just the right mix of (dark) humour and gore, but occasionally real-world events take over, and in one of them we are left wondering how a crime can be undiscovered for so many years. Theatre can (and does) need to hold a mirror to life, and tonight’s performance did so very well.

The evening comprises 7 recollections, and what focussed our attention is how the souls trapped in a semi-purgatory delivered their story. At times we do feel sorry for them, at others less so, but that’s all down to the performers – and, although names are a bit absent from the hand outs, these are the folks who made things work: Donna (writer), Jade (performer), Barbara (performer) and Bruce (performer).

All of them kicked around a few ideas and themes, and although the characters are looking back on life (sometimes through rose tinted glasses) we identify with them. It’s a limited run, sadly, but it is moving on.

I took two thoughts away. When I was much younger than I am now, my parents had an old 78 rpm record of Lesley Sarony singing “Ain’t it Grand to be Blooming Well Dead” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcAieB-2kC0&ab_channel=VintageBritishComedy  It could be the theme for this show. Our surviving playwright Alan Bennet was very successful with his “Talking Heads”. I suggested to the current crew that they might explore a new genre called “Talking Deads”.

Who’s up for Hitler, Mussolini, Pol Pot, Gadafe, Mugabe or anyone else? It’s rich furrow to plough, and this troupe are the ones to do it.

There are a few more performances, so do go if you have a chance.

Paul Schofield for Canal Street Media.

More details here 

Published: 18-Jul-2023 (7187)