What’s the story?

London-based goth Georgia decides to open herself up to a roommate, and Sam seems the perfect candidate… or at least she isn’t as objectionable as the endless parade of weirdos who walk through the door. To Sam and Georgia’s dismay, the pair find them have nothing whatsoever in common, but in this genre-bending, absurdist comedy about the horrors of cohabitation, a lack of shared interests may be the least of their concerns.

Where is it playing?

Unlikely: In a Building With a Broken Lift plays at Barons Court Theatre until March 21st

Tickets and information can be found on the theatre’s website

This review was written at the request of Dippy Egg Theatre, who kindly invited me to attend.

Spoiler-Free Thoughts

I’m sure I won’t be alone in saying that living with others can be hard, but for better or worse many of us have had to spend time sharing a home with relatively (or even complete) strangers. Unlikely, the twisted brainchild of Dippy Egg founders and co-stars Emma Wallace and Lucy Mynard, mines this familiar strain for both humour and horror. Also under examination: the endless annoyances that come with a broken lift no one seems all that concerned about repairing!

Mynard and Wallace bring tremendous energy to the roles of Georgia and Sam, respectively, which is particularly important when so few words pass between their characters. In fact, the only fully audible dialogue takes place not between Sam and Georgia, but between “Lucy” and “Emma,” as the play becomes increasingly meta-theatrical and suggests other reasons the pair may want to explore conflict in their art.

Instead, the flatmates chiefly show their emotions through mime and movement work, with a sprinkling of choreographed dancing for good measure. We open on Georgia hidden under a blanket as she watches TV alone, the Halloween theme blaring as see from her chaotic grin that her face-burying was not from fear but uninhibited glee. Later, she and Sam share similarly exaggerated expressions at learning of their one shared interest: Guns N’ Roses. It’s all very silly, but I’ll be damned if it isn’t a fun time!

An extensive mix of sound bites span from horror cinema (Halloween, American Psycho) to TV reruns (Jimmy Fallon, Friends) and adds in cartoonish sound effects including the long-distance screaming cat we’ve all come to associate with a mighty swing of a golf club (or, in this case, a pickleball… racket?). All of this comes accompanied by Lyud Hristov’s over-the-top, almost Saturday morning cartoon-esque narration, which not only amuses itself but offers the actors yet another element to bounce off of.

This seemingly endless array of sound cues, not to mention the effective and atmospheric lighting, all comes courtesy of Flick Hemmin, whose work here is a marvellous demonstration of just how much can be achieved within the presumed confines of a fringe venue. Across the hour, Hemming is responsible for a constant collection of tasks, the timing and execution of which is, more often than not, impeccable.

And of course, it would be ludicrous to discuss Unlikely without discussing its stars, co-devisers and co-directors, Lucy Mynard and Emma Wallace. With Leo Bacica acting as the third co-director, presumably to ensure that the ideas stayed focused, or as focused as the chaos conjured up here can get, the pair turn in energetic and totally endearing performances. From the early scenes of Mynard as a stoic and blank-faced presence opposite Wallace’s more girlish, perky demeanour, through to more action-packed, eventually violent sequences, neither ever allows the energy to drop.

Admittedly, for some Unlikely will simply be too much – too silly, too elaborate, too expansive in its ideas. For me, however, there was endless charm in these eclectic ideas and new laughs around every ludicrous corner. This is theatre made not for profit, but for the sheer love of creation, and as much as it strains against the concept of “too much” I found myself having far too much fun to care.

Final Thoughts

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Absurd. Entertaining. Abundant.

A show genuinely having fun with genre, style, and even the story itself, Unlikely: In a Building With a Broken Lift may not be perfect, and certainly won’t match up with some viewer’s tastes or expectations. Still, the sheer joy of it all, the love for creation that has so blatantly gone into every aspect, makes it difficult not to smile throughout, and that infectious energy results, if nothing else, in a joyful hour at the theatre.