Please Shoot The Messenger

This delightful fun packed short play makes light of the cliché that all fictional messengers, in some of the great works, never get near old age. All meet untimely deaths. So why would someone take on this role.

This is something that Rachael Dowsett the performer/writer becomes all too aware in this 60-minute quest to find a cure for a plague and save the royal prince and the Nation. Here she is delighted to be appointed to such a highly prized job only to learn almost instantly the pitfall. Dowsett delivers a tour-de-force performance that engages the audience immediately. With each new character she is able to physically morph into their characteristics with such ease and confidence it is totally enthralling. Resulting in several laugh out loud moments. She meets with three royal messengers who all give her their own possible cure for the plague. None of which are successful. It’s only in the closing moments that she discovers she has had the cure with here all along.

The is a very absurd and simple story that is told with great wit and aplomb. It only loses a little of the impetus in the middle when a couple of the confrontations run for a little too long.

She is directed in this romp by Jacob Proctor, who keeps a tight rein on the plot and shows great use of the bare staging and fun audience participation. The lighting from Summer Keeling adds much to locating the different scenes and the slickness of this production.

Wherever this goes next, and it totally deserves full houses. But, please don’t shoot the messenger.

Photo credit: Jacob Proctor

Four Stars