The final, but least successful play [in this year’s Young and Hungry Festival of New Theatre] is Dead Days by Owen Baxendale and directed by Debra Mulholland.

While the idea of a young man finding his way in life through interacting with his best mate who has just died is not new, the way it is presented in Dead Days is new and innovative, and often very funny. [More] 

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There comes a time in every young person’s life when they need to break out of the family fold and find their own path in life. If that sounds like a cliché it’s only because it’s a universal and timeless truth; home comforts v adventures into the unknown has been a theme ever since storytelling was invented.

What’s clever about Owen Baxendale’s play is he has dramatised the syndrome by having his ‘hero’, Max Johnson (Morgan Hopkins), follow his father into the undertaking business and a predictable future. Max has moved out of home but an excruciatingly funny opening scene finds him alone at the 21^st birthday dinner party he’s thrown for his absent flatmates. We’re in ‘truth + pain = comedy’ territory here.

The ultra-cool flatmate couple, Sascha (Olivia Fox) and Paul (Oscar van der Beek), prevail upon Max to evict the inconsiderate deadbeat Andy (Felix Ovens-Leach) but before he gets the message Andy becomes the next customer to be wheeled into Max’s workplace.

Max’s girlfriend, Lydia (Rhea du Fresne-Mann), waits patiently for him to be free of his undertaking exams so they can plan their future together. His Dad, Mr J (Will Collin), is proud to be bringing his boy into the family business. There’s no mention of a mum or any siblings and I can’t help thinking it would add to the pressure Max feels if it was clear – or at least was the way Max saw it – that all Mr J’s hopes were invested in his son.  

What’s interesting is that although the opening ‘party’ and closing funeral scenes represent real events, there is greater credibility in Max’s imagined (or are they?) interactions with the cadavers. His relationship with Andy is complex and true, and what emerges with newcomer Molly (Kayla Morton) addresses the vexed question of youth suicide in an insightful and constructive way without proselytising in the least.

Max, Andy and Molly get to navigate the highs and lows of human existence more than the others, and Hopkins, Ovens-Leach and Morton have clear understandings of how their taking it seriously provokes audience laughter. Their comic timing is astute and director Debra Mulholland must share the credit for this.

The script could be trimmed. The dad jokes about undertaking and death, well, die, not least because he explains them. Besides, and surely he’d have trotted them out to his family years ago, so this is the playwright talking, not Mr J. Also it takes too long to achieve dramatic resolution. The aforementioned funeral scene only seems to be a vehicle for gratuitously nasty humour that might have worked to establish characters early on but is out of place in the final phase of the story.

That said, there are some well-seeded setups for later payoffs and plenty for the target audience to take away and think upon.

The set (designed byJamie Wallace-Thexton) of modular shelving units looks good and works well, as does Adam Herbert’s lighting and Cameron Cook’s sound designs. Kelly Wills Pine and Meesha Kipa (who also designed the costumes) share credit for the excellent special effects make-up.  

There’s a lot to admire in Dead Days and – as with many involved in the other two Young & Hungry plays – I look forward to seeing more work from some very promising talents. 

Links to other Young & Hungry reviews:
Bloody Hell Jesus (Get Your Own Friends)
Like Sex. 

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