Warmly touching and physical, this autobiographical show from David Scotland is as much a story of working out how to love yourself as it is one of understanding your place in this world as an artist.
A graduate of musical theatre and dance specialist from Bird College, his story unfolds against a carefully chosen musical landscape that ranges from Little Dragon to Donizetti that, as well as supporting the narrative’s emotional arc, permits Scotland as writer and performer to express himself with words, song and movement.
Dave is revealed to us episodically, each scene unmasking something more of this nervously energetic young man—a note to his sisters that reads as a letter of wishes, a voice note to a friend, a session with a therapist…
As performer, Scotland provides a cogent and engaging performance. As playwright, the thoughtful text is almost poetic at times but never pretentiously so. The story it creates is playful, teasing even, as it toys between Scotland’s push-me-pull-you relationship with art and boyfriend, the darkly enigmatic Art played by Robert Strange.
Across the play, Dave faces the demands of an insatiable and yet irresistibly seductive art / Art to find that the magnetic trap is also a doorway to his redemption.