Review: THE SYSTEM, Sweet Sorrow Theatre Company (Brighton Fringe - Online)

Written by Edward Loboda, who also stars, The System is a play about rules and how society questions or accepts them.  

Set in a society where civil servants get to decide whether people are allowed to continue their lives or not, once they reach a certain age, DOSE or the Department Of Scheduled Euthanasia, is accepted by society …. until Blake meets Timmy.  

Both of Blake’s parents work for DOSE and Timmy’s Grandmother is living on borrowed time.  Having reached 70 and been granted an extra year, that year is almost up and she needs to appeal to gain permission to continue her life.

Blake begins to question the morals of DOSE and those of his parents and through meeting Timmy’s Grandmother, tries to change the system, but what consequences will this have?

Filmed online via Zoom during lockdown, the natural flow of conversation and character relationships are not affected and the rapport between actors is clear.  

Using the same virtual backgrounds is a nice touch showing the characters are in the same scene, in place of a set and props being “passed” between them is played out well.

There were a few slip ups with dialogue, which potentially could have been edited out, but were kept in giving the piece the feel of live theatre. However, in some later scenes, it did appear that some of the actors were reading from their scripts and this was a little distracting from the performance.

Overall, the piece is well cast and well performed. Tensions between characters, particularly Timmy played by Liam Alexandru and Blake played by Edward Loboda, come across on screen as well as would be expected in a live performance.

It is easy to see how the play could transfer easily to the stage and I understand that this is currently in development.

**** 4 stars

Reviewed by Rachel Louise Martin

The System is available to stream until 27 June here.