The Sum of It All… – Unity Theatre, Liverpool

Director: Dan Shorten

Reviewer: David Noble

The Public Reviews Rating:

The Sum of It All was a very strange production. Brought to the stage by the award winning Dan Shorten’s new company Anomic, it was the tale of a young man who commits suicide and then looks back on his life. Yet rather than being depressing and melancholic, The Sum of It All was bizarrely whimsical, which provided an unusual and not entirely enjoyable experience.

The plot followed the sad story of Stanley Ayers, as he relives his final few months on earth, and is unfortunately an incredibly clichéd downward spiral. We learn of Stanley’s suicide in the opening scene, and due to the play’s simple formula one spends the entire latter half just waiting for him to kill himself. There are no plot twists, it just gradually happens! The strange angle of the performance came in through the brief moments of interpretive dance, cockney angels on balloons, and a rather scary talking moon. The Sum of It All was certainly eclectic, whilst it lacked insight and innovation on the topic of suicide. The set however was original, and the use of multimedia (50 inch television screens which provided a backdrop for the action) was also inventive.

One massive flaw of the production was the acting. There was no empathy for Stanley (actor’s name unknown because of the absence of a programme) because he was so annoyingly portrayed. He was in many ways a ridiculous protagonist, and due to this the performance lacked the pathos it needed to make the audience relate.

In conclusion, the play seemed to lack vision. It was caught between being insightful about suicide and utilising as many multimedia tricks as possible, and this balancing act was altogether unsuccessful. The sum of which was an unfulfilling night of theatre.