REVIEW: The Last Drop, Manás Theatre Lab, EdFringe 2026 ★★★★

Part of the São Paulo Showcase, The Last Drop boasts a strong cast, striking visuals, and a poetic script that will seep into your mind and moulder there.

An aging couple notices a leak in their roof. Dripping, mouldering, rotting as they prepare for a visit from the estate agent who represents their last hope to get out of this apartment, weighted down with as yet undisclosed horrors. They call a plumber to fix the leak, but as he steps into the strange world of the apartment, we begin to realise that he may have been haunting them all along.

A rich commentary on environmental and social estrangement, The Last Drop paints a picture in sickly greens, brackish browns, and blood red. The motif of stagnant water that permeates the script is compelling, transmuting our life force into a harbinger of decay in all arenas: the world, the community, our homes, our own bodies. 

A particular strength of the piece is its more lyrical sections, particularly Gilberto’s monologue about crawling into a ditch as a child. It is in these moments that the horror and revulsion of the piece really gets the chance to burrow into you. The language is absolutely beautiful, and the English surtitles, translated by writer/director Dante Passarelli are flawless, adding yet another estrangement device to this tale of isolation.

The performances are strong and precise, leaning into absurdity and caricature one second before drawing back to moments of real anguish, as mellifluous as the text. Passarelli’s direction is strange, twisted, and painstaking, bringing the disconnection and grotesquerie of the script into full focus.

The final section feels a little rushed after the artful languishing of the earlier sections, but if my only qualm about a piece of Fringe theatre is that I would like to see a full-length production then I am a happy audience member. 

Ambitious, singular, and eminently thought-provoking, The Last Drop is certainly a top-floor piece of theatre, and one that you won’t be able to find at any other time of year – go!

Drink recommendation: A negroni: smooth, bitter, interesting.

You can catch The Last Drop at Playground 1 at ZOO Playground from 7-30 August (not 10, 17,24) at 19:00 (60 mins). Tickets are available through the EdFringe Online Box Office.