The moribund man in his pyjamas talking to the put-together face of a woman on a TV screen in Future Ruins’ new production points to a particular kind of very 21st century isolation: multimedia cannot prevent the solitary despair of the everyday existentialist.
This is the position of lonely father Anthony (Rhys Swinburn), who is desperately attempting to cure his sense of numb isolation via a self help video.
It’s a thought-provoking piece about modern-day isolation and how the self-help industry preys on vulnerable people. The loathsome, smug woman on the TV (Helen Bradbury) drones platitudes in the self-righteous certainty that she has the answers.
It’s an odd dialogue, more absurdist than it appears because talking to televisions doesn’t seem that odd, as Nick drones unhappily at her, so weighted down by despair that he’s barely able to raise his voice above a mumble.
Although he becomes more animated, the script places him in his misery without explaining its cause. And although there’s a certain quiet anger to the play, its passivity grates: it understands the damage self-help culture can do, but at the end, it appears to accept its existence.
Until Aug 28, Underbelly’s Baby Belly (V88), 4pm. http://www.underbelly.co.uk