Content Warning: mentions of transphobia, depression, self-harm and alcoholism 

‘Who said smashing things up was a bad idea?’ This is the question that opens up the powerful and heart wrenching play, Swallow. For a reasonably short runtime at 1 hour 30 minutes, this new play at the Rob Barber Studio in the Crescent Theatre, explores the ‘hard extremes of every day life’ with questions of identity, relationships and heartbreak, and hope traversed through three characters on stage.

From start to end, I was captivated by the poetic intensity and richness of dramatic elements. Each character had a story to tell as they all took to the stage, speaking one by one, sometimes blending into each other, and sharing repeated dialogue in a dramatic, poetic way to create suspense and intensity. Each statement and pause is articulated with dramatic force; internal monologues were mixed with direct dialogue.

The characters also use benches and a frame (presented as a mirror) which they move around through each scene. Scene changes are indicated through lighting and thunder sounds – lighting is used thoroughly to add to the dramatic tension that this play portrays.

Rebecca, played by Emma Friend, is a lonely, angry and upset woman, whose husband, Christopher, has left her for another woman. We see the sadness in Rebecca through her at first blunt dialogue with Sam, and her smashing up of things such as the TV. Near the beginning, she falls, drunken, onto a piece of glass that slices into her cheek, made worse by the fact she chooses to push this further into her cheek. After multiple stitches, she is left with a scar – a scar that plunges her into increased loneliness and isolation from people. Emma Friend portrays Rebecca in a witty light despite her sadness, with sudden expressions of swear words which made the audience laugh. 

Then comes Sam, a transgender man who is coming to terms with himself, but is subject to a transphobic attack halfway through the play. Sam is taken by Rebecca, who he thinks is beautiful and intriguing. They go for coffee and dancing and form a strong connection, but this is later brought to the test by the fact that Rebecca isn’t sure if she is ready to move on, whilst Sam is keeping a secret from Rebecca. Sam’s struggles with his identity are beautifully portrayed by Abigail Westwood.

Finally on stage is Anna, who is definitely the most complex character to grasp. Played by Beth Gilbert, Anna is portrayed as a woman all-consumed by her depression. Anna doesn’t leave her room and instead, works day and night to build mosaics from broken shards of glass, and later on her ‘biggest project yet,’ a nest made from everything in her entire flat. She no longer eats and doesn’t have any contact with the outside world. That is, until Rebecca, and later, Sam, try to speak to her through the door to coax her outside, whilst trying to work out what has caused her this pain – it is never fully revealed what happened to Anna, which I think is important to the play, as it shows you don’t need to know what is wrong with someone to be willing to help. She has a witty sense like Rebecca, but it is tainted with expressions of madness that makes the audience pity her. 

There is a break-through near the end when Anna discovers an injured pelican outside her window and brings it into her nest to nurse it back to health. Through having to take care of the pelican, she learns to take care of herself and realizes she needs to go back into the outside world. The use of this ‘imaginary’ (to us) pelican is a pivotal moment in the shift of her mindset.

Each character is going through entirely different experiences, but they all suffer from mental health, and through getting to know each other and help each other, they learn that to live is a choice they want to make. Swallow leaves us with a reflective ending – we don’t know what will happen next, but we are left with a feeling of hope for each character. 

This is a play that is a much-needed exploration of modern-day life, with feelings of hopelessness, fear, and heartbreak that many of us will experience. What this play teaches us is that whatever life throws at you, with the help of other people and time, there is always hope and a way forward.

Rating: 4/5 

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