Receiving its world premiere at Oldham Coliseum ahead of a summer tour, We Should Definitely Have More Dancing is a new play co-written by actor Clara Darcy, with Ian Kershaw, based on true events from Darcy’s own life.  Starring Darcy as herself, the one-act play retells the time in her life when she had a “fist” in her head which led to a near death experience.

Darcy and Kershaw have worked well together to adapt Darcy’s life story into a compelling script to be performed onstage to share her experience with live audiences.  It is awe-inspiring that Darcy has the courage to tell such an intimately personal story to the world, and audiences are left hanging off every word to hear such a detailed and heartfelt recount of her experience.  To help Darcy bring her story to life, sharing the stage with her are Shamia Chalabi and Suzanna Hamilton, who both multi-role as the various characters featured in the story, as well as alternate versions of Clara.  As mentioned at the “not-ending ending” of the piece, the three performers have developed a close bond with one another over the rehearsal process, and this bond is not only visible throughout the whole performance, but also strengthens the piece.

The direction by Tatty Hennessy and Raz Shaw portrays both the hard hitting and humorous moments of Darcy and Kershaw’s script in a fantastically fascinating way, which gives audiences an impression of what it was like amongst the battling emotions and sea of memories in Clara’s head throughout the chaos of her many hospital visits.  Set and lighting co-designed by Joshua Gadsby and Naomi Kuyuk-Cohen is simple but used creatively to really transform the performance space for different settings featured in the story.  Harsh white spotlights are frequently used to imitate the fluorescent lighting of hospital wards and stage curtains surrounding the main performance space have the freedom to be manipulated and readjusted to create additional locations for the onstage action to commence.

Telling the story of her own experience, Clara Darcy’s new play We Should Definitely Have More Dancing is a poignant insight into how her life was turned upside down by the discovery of a tumour the size of a fist growing inside her head.  Despite a 50% chance of her tumour growing back, Darcy now has a whole new perspective on life and wishes to share the lessons she has learnt through her experience to the world.  A superb creative team has helped Darcy devise this beautiful piece of theatre and we encourage you to come see this fantastic play so that you too can have the honour of witnessing the incredibly moving and insightful story that has made Clara Darcy who she is today.

***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: Jess Dalloway

We Should Definitely Have More Dancing plays at Oldham Coliseum until 2 July, with tickets available here.