Eve Miller
This wildly inventive and impeccably written show is a pocket of perfection in the Fringe programme. Portia and Alison are driving home from a wedding, when they hit a deer, killing Portia, and sparking a time loop forcing Portia to relive the journey over and over again. These repeats force her, and the audience, to confront the terrifying possibility of endings: the end of relationships, the end of the world, and – most devastating and inevitable – the end of the play.
This urgent production gets to the heart of the most (de)pressing issue of our generation: how can we carry on with our lives and try to make a difference as individuals when the climate catastrophe is seemingly inevitable, perpetrated by forces beyond our control? Trying again and again and again to escape the time loop with her relationship and sanity intact, Portia is driven to action, inaction, and everything in between in her desperate attempts to change the ending.
This is one of the most intelligently written plays I’ve ever seen. Writer Mal MacKenzie weaves an impossibly intricate queer existential tapestry of metaphors, drawing philosophy, biology, physics, polyamory, pop culture, and a depressed anthropomorphic deer into their representation of the climate crisis. All three actors deliver performances that live up to the excellent script, rising to the challenge of bringing it to life as it deserves. Alongside writing, MacKenzie also portrays Alison, a steady hand for Portia to hold as she unravels, with an exact mix of lightness and sincerity. Em Pressley tackles the role of The Deer with grim humour, walking the tightrope between character and symbol. And Lauren McKee delivers a stellar performance as Portia, finding the realism in the absurdity of the concept with a deft hand, traversing incredible highs and lows of emotion with ease, and offering the audience an absolute gift of a performance. Directed with ingenuity and skill by Allegra Richie, Roadkill Bambi is a production that will not soon be forgotten by anyone who has had the honour of seeing it.
On a very limited run, please see this show while you can – I certainly will be at least once more. Masterfully crafted and devastatingly beautiful, Roadkill Bambi is genuinely unmissable, and profoundly deserving of the full house standing ovation that it received.
Recommended Drink: A dram of whiskey and a cigarette to take the edge off the existential terror.
You can catch Roadkill Bambi at Theatre 3 at TheSpace @ Surgeon’s Hall from 1st-9th August at 18:05 (60mins). Tickets are available through the EdFringe Online Box Office.
Jake Mace
Lamesha Ruddock
Jasmine Silk
