The tiny, cave-like space of the Barons Court theatre is piled high with files, boxes and lever arch folders. There are pieces of paper stuck to the walls and floors. On closer inspection, they are all extracts from books about acting. It’s an impressive set and, as it turns out, the best thing we are going to see all evening.
Despite the arrival of actor Kelsey Marlowe Jessup on stage, it isn’t really clear that the play has begun. But what does become apparent very quickly is that this isn’t a play at all, but rather a showreel for Jessup to demonstrate the full range of her ‘innate’ talent. She laughs! She cries! She does accents! She does whimsy! She breaks the fourth wall! She changes her costume! Are there any casting directors in tonight??
Essentially a one-woman show with a bit of support from ‘tech crew’ member Clement James, the performance is made up of a series of random scenes so loose and formless that I can’t even call them vignettes. They are laboured and slow, and peppered with pregnant pauses. It’s a relief when James appears on stage to break things up a bit, including a strange set-up where the lights go out because they haven’t paid the bill, and when Jessup takes a call on her smartphone from ‘Robo-Thespian’. This is meant as a dig at the current trend in theatre towards multimedia and live filming, but it turns out to be clever and entertaining in a way the rest of the show simply isn’t.
There is a sort of theme behind the work – Jessup believes that theatre is broken and wants to present her messages of ‘new ways forward for actors, artists, and the creative community’. She recites some poetry, gives us John Cleese’s view on creativity and throws a tennis ball into the audience while pondering why actors can’t be more like sports stars. And if you haven’t picked up on the theme for the first 45 minutes, don’t worry because, at the end, not only does Jessup recite her manifesto at great length, but, as the audience leaves the theatre, we are handed a printed copy too. Only it isn’t really her idea after all – it turns out to be from twentieth-century Russian dramatist, Nikolai Demidov, writing in 1953.
Jessup’s key message seems to be that actors should not ‘do,’ but ‘be’. I just wish she could ‘be’ better.
Review by Fiona Gilbert
The fourth wall doesn’t need breaking… the System does.
In a world where creatives are forced to tick boxes and follow the rules, Kelsey, the actor, questions the systems that saturate the business of theatre. With robots, a cat, and the experience of living on stage, she invites the audience to play alongside her as she ponders what a world it would be to truly be allowed to live in one’s ever-evolving creative truth.
Written and Co-Produced by Kelsey Marlowe Jessup
Directed by Kira Gaudynski
Co-produced by Lucy Kean
Lighting & Tech by Haley Sliker
Starring Kelsey Marlowe Jessup and Clement James
IT’S NOTHING PERSONAL, IT’S JUST BUSINESS
Barons Court Theatre
22 to 26 April 2025
