By Janine Tan, First Year Law
There is something very personal about the night. It is in the silence of trying to sleep that you often fail to; your deepest memories or fears, or even the craving to distract from them, can keep you wide awake. It is therefore an interesting creative choice by the director Paige Stevens to portray such an intimate topic with such lightness.
How Do You Sleep At Night? is the latest show from Bristol Old Vic’s Young Company, which ‘dives into the quiet… hours before bed to explore everything that keeps us up.’ The show can only be described as a compilation. Over ten skits are squeezed into a tight one-hour runtime, with no continuing characters or plotline. In each skit, one of the fifteen young actors becomes the audience’s main focus, portraying either something that keeps them awake or helps them fall asleep.
‘the show jumps between ‘clench and release’ guides, relaxing Japanese hair-washing videos, and boring history podcasts’
This structure raised some immediate questions: Why follow a group of generic youths through random sleep struggles? Might a single cohesive story be more impactful instead? These questions are answered quite immediately when you feel first-hand its comedic effect. Because the skits are self-contained scenarios, each bit can simply land with a quick payoff before moving on. Within the span of five minutes, for instance, the show jumps between ‘clench and release’ guides, relaxing Japanese hair-washing videos, and boring history podcasts. Tonally, this gives the comedy a great sense of immediacy and variety. But perhaps symbolically too, this quick pacing mimicked the speed of late-night thoughts that race through your mind.
However, when your thoughts race at night, you rarely have time to meaningfully consider each one. The show makes the same trade-off. Its exclusive use of unnamed, short-lived characters effectively prevents the audience from developing an emotional foothold. So, although the director Stevens said that she aimed to grapple with ‘big, existential questions, but always with humour,’ the show seems to struggle to do both at once. While it certainly nails the humour, it falters in delivering a comparably strong emotional or thematic impact.
Nowhere is this limitation more emphatic than in the show’s circular ending. Early on, a character struggles to finish reading a fantasy story, having to raise her voice with each line to hear herself over a rising chorus of distractions. She closes the show by ultimately finishing the story without interruption, now helping her friend fall asleep. This focal point is even reflected in Katie Evans’ set design; within the abstract recreation of a young person’s bedroom sits an oversized book of childhood stories.
In retrospect, it is possible to piece these elements together as a commentary nostalgic for the simplicity and focus offered by childhood storytelling. However, during the performance itself, the same actress plays multiple young characters across disparate scenes, all in identical costuming. As a result, although the script may contain insightful ideas, the structure gives you such whiplash that it’s difficult to grasp what the show wants you to ultimately focus on.
Still, perhaps the greatest joy of supporting this production lies in its cast of young actors. The show’s youthful energy is infectious. Atmospherically, the sound design was chock-full of angsty, lively music like Teenage Dirtbag and I Wish. More notably, the cast commits fully to every bit, earning roaring cheers from the audience for an unashamed lipsync as theatrical as those seen on RuPaul’s Drag Race. It’s not at all surprising, then, that in a note from the cast, first-time Young Company performer Amelia Asare said that ‘every idea and moment (even the silliest ones) have helped shape the play into what it is.’
Evie Greville
The labour of love behind this production, with young people telling a story about young people, gives the show a unique sincerity. For this reason, although not technically or emotionally exceptional, How Do You Sleep At Night? stands as a welcome addition to Bristol Old Vic’s catalogue of contemplative, youth-led theatre.
The show runs until Saturday 17th January and tickets are available online.
Featured image: Bristol Old Vic
Will you go and see ‘How Do You Sleep At Night?’?
