Phoebe Bakker
Let chance lead your theatre experience? Seems like a risk. Nathan Charles’ When The Fun Stops…Try Again? creates a show where chance leads its runtime. In this audience-led immersive experience that explores gambling addiction, you could win £500, but equally run the risk of the show ending immediately. Begging the question: when the fun stops should you try again?
In a litany of discarded items, we are looking for order. Lottery tickets fill the floor, alongside shopping bags, collectors’ items and, to the side, a stack of organised papers and a box. The audience sits silently, awaiting a performance, only to have instructions flash upon the screen asking us to pick a number – we are the performance.
The apprehension from the audience at the start is clear, but soon the excitement takes over. Prizes, mini-games and genuine support enrapture us. Soon, we are acting as a community, eager to join in and making our own in-jokes where we can. At points, there are awkward silences. It doesn’t always run as intended – nervous readers stumbling over their words or tech issues occasionally blunt the weight of the stories- but it feels real. In a way, it feels more like performance art than theatre. It’s beautifully human, only captured by the audience that arrives.
It’s amazing how quickly you are taken up by it. Through this semi-autobiographical performance we explore Charles’ experiences with gambling addiction while asking us to examine our own. Each number pulled corresponds to a different story and what strikes me is how different each is. The mundanity that is expressed standing in contrast to the game-show themes of glitz and glamour. It’s surprisingly normal. Tesco clubcard meal deals to Pokémon card trading. Hobbies and interests. The earliest memories of penny pusher arcade machines – how common they are within our own experience and yet how differently that can be experienced when viewing it through the lens of gambling addiction.
And it is addictive. Charles has a compelling way with words. His reflections are thoughtful, still dancing within my mind. They don’t judge, rather invite you to come to your own conclusions to reflect on our own behaviours and the wider impact these have within the context of societal norms as well as class expectations. How we’re encouraged to spend, to feed back into capitalism- but where does that start and who is to blame?
It feels safe; we’re allowed to have fun here. The stakes feel low, but after an audience member is ejected having lost a game suddenly everything is unpredictable.
Simple in it’s premise the show is utterly charming. It successfully navigates a balance between genuine enjoyment and heart. Though it has its moments of clunkiness, what shines throughout is an overwhelming sense of camaraderie, asking us to immerse ourselves in its themes and reflect. I found myself wanting when the fun stopped, to in fact play again.
Performances of When The Fun Stops..Try Again? have now concluded at Pleasance Theatre London.
Francisco De Nata
Salvador Kent
Shay Mace
