REVIEW: FUNERAL TEETH at Drayton Arms Theatre 12 – 16 November 2024

‘a fearless production that says a lot with a little’ ★★★★½ 

I walk up the stairs to the black box theatre above the Drayton Arms pub and I am met with the infectious energy of a trio in white shirts, black ties and no bottoms. The cast of ‘funeral teeth’ hand out lollipops, condoms, tampons and tissues to audience members in the preset to a brilliantly bawdy play. I am enthusiastic, having unwrapped my lollipop and written what I’d hate to lose most on a slip of paper (to be used later in the show); I am sure from the outset that this is fresh and exciting theatre. We are given multiple trigger warnings and encouraged to look after ourselves as the show deals with adult themes, and we are reminded of the company’s open-door policy.

Succulent Theatre’s Rio, Amy and Katja command the stage in a 60-minute celebration of autobiographical storytelling. They mix sex and love and queerness with grief, loss, drugs, suicide, eating disorders, assault, abortion, funerals and teeth, all the while speaking to a universal feminine experience with nuance and care. Profound, confessional monologues are punctuated by physical vignettes: grandparents battling google maps in the car, losing your virginity to a boy (“DID YOU CUM??”), yanking out a Mooncup from between your best friend’s legs and shoving your grandma’s coffin into the ground because the hole is too small. In such a short piece, the company manage, half-naked, to both cover a plethora of social issues and drum up pride for femininity. There is power in sharing stories to educate, particularly when they address mental health. Succulent Theatre are powerful, carving a positive space for the female body to occupy, and ‘funeral teeth’ left me wishing I’d known about their work sooner. 

Slick lighting and sound design bolster stellar performances from all three actors, who deliver multiple characters, physicality and moments of tenderness with impressive ingenuity. Only at the end of the show do they pull on their trousers, as if saying goodbye to the funeral of their collective losses: eulogies delivered, friends’ traumas re-enacted. The play itself is a kind of united therapy, inviting its audiences to reflect on their own losses and the ‘weird, smudged version of the world’ that takes shape after someone dies. 

‘funeral teeth’ is a show about loss, yes, but it’s also a show about joy, the power of female friendships and bouncing back after hardship. Whether you have lost a part of yourself to a relationship, a disorder, a procedure or a death, Succulent Theatre remind us that there is hope in laughter and comfort in confession. This is a fearless production that says a lot with a little and, above all, is a lot of fun.

funeral teeth

By Succulent Theatre

Drayton Arms Theatre

12th – 16th November 2024

@succulenttc

Reviewer Bio

Imo Redpath is a writer and actor for theatre, radio and TV. She graduated with an MFA in Scriptwriting from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and her plays ‘Foxes & Rabbits’ and ‘Pigs’ are currently in development. She writes a comedy blog on Substack about living with ADHD in London.