Is there anything as unsettlingly familiar than a near-future dystopic office space? From Brazil to Black Mirror, the cold matter-of-factness of red tape has played stimulus for some truly terrifying pieces of performance over the years. Octopus joins its ranks with a new piece of writing from Afsaneh Gray about nonsensical interviews and punk rebellion. The result is a valiant effort which despite its fieriness feels less a rage against the machine and more a yell into the void.
Courtesy of York Theatre Royal.
The set is kept distractingly minimal overall, meaning that there’s all the more tension when attention turns to a bulky unattended bag halfway through. Director Pia Furtado upsells the satire with small touches that show the devil’s in the details. Scheherazade’s leggings and a gaudy royal wedding mug betray how exaggerated claims of Britishness have become in Octopus’ once green and pleasant land.
Broken Britain is the reality within the waiting room, both with regards to a painstakingly duplicitous interview process and when it comes to the prejudices flashed between the three characters Gray focuses on. The concept is an interesting one that automatically puts Sarah, Sara and Scheherazade on the defensive: each have to stake a claim to their heritage to avoid cuts of funding, loss of job, or deportation.
Dilek Rose is the standout performer of the evening. Tasked with by far the quirkiest character, Rose fleshes out Scheherazade beyond a muddle of tapestry-enthusiasm and non-sequiturs. It’s Scheherazade who introduces the concept of identifying as Octopus. The metaphor has its charm but in practise feels more shoehorned into the dialogue than the title or promotional material might suggest. Music too is used throughout the performance but like the octopus symbolism it hovers over the play rather than engaging with the themes or drama. A punk rebellion is spurred by the characters’ singing in the waiting room, but it feels too little too late to make the impact it’s intended. A microphone in one corner is used only in a spotlight: are we being offered amplification of the character’s thoughts, their motivations, a separate scene entirely? It feels broken up, rather than interacting with the piece itself.
Octopus is by its own admission “a bit mixed up”, and that’s the problem of the piece. It’s clear from Gray’s writing that there’s a lot of justifiable anger at contemporary racial and social attitudes. The injustice comes across easily but in terms of its satirical edge, the play loses its bite and presents some problematic morals: is it accepted that Sarah only cares about civil rights once she herself is affected? There’s still some unpacking to be done with Octopus- a step which will only improve Gray’s future work. 3/5
Review written by Louise Jones.
Octopus was shown at York Theatre Royal on Friday 28th April. For more information on the tour, visit here…
Leave a Comment