Review: ALL OF IT, Royal Court Theatre

Photo credit: Manuel Harlan

If Alistair McDowall hasn’t already achieved national treasure status as a theatre-maker, his latest Royal Court offering should cement that title. all of it is near halfway through its devastatingly short run at the celebrated London hub of new writing, and you must do everything in your power to catch it before it goes.

Written for performer Kate O’Flynn, all of it comprises of three short plays/long poems introducing us to three ordinary women. McDowall’s script swings from quiet, wry humour and joyful banality to grotesque musings on death and decay and creeping existential horror.

This series of pocket-sized plays has echoes of Beckettian absurdism, with the poignant and dry wit of Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads. But to draw comparisons detracts from the sparkling freshness of McDowall’s writing.

Solo performer Kate O’Flynn is a marvel, worthy of her instantaneous standing ovation. She commands a rapt audience with her meticulous performance, exactingly directed by Vicky Featherstone and Sam Pritchard. McDowall and O’Flynn’s voices blend so perfectly in this production – it is genuinely and wonderfully staggering how well McDowall writes from a woman’s perspective, creating extraordinary poetry from the most ordinary of people.

Merle Hensel’s stage design contains each capsule play beautifully, working particularly well with Elliot Grigg’s lighting design in the second piece (In Stereo) to create a stark, unnerving space with mouldy walls that almost seem to creeping, growing and living. Hensel’s design helps to track a narrative thread across McDowall’s three plays, gradually stripping back the stage for the third and final piece (all of it) a stream-of-consciousness interior monologue in its purest form.

Sound artist and composer Melanie Wilson deserves her own standing ovation particularly for her work on In Stereo, in which at least four different voices are projected across the stage and yet the crucial details and notable lines are able to be picked out of each.

If you cannot make it to see O’Flynn’s dazzling performance in person, the playscript is a thing of beauty and a worthwhile investment. McDowall has always had an extraordinarily free approach to form and writing, and seeing his plays in print gives a whole new dimension and insight to the staged production.

all of it is a triumph in all areas – a drop-everything-and-go show.

***** Five stars

Reviewed by: Livvy Perrett

all of it plays at the Royal Court until 17 June, with further information here.